The 
Audaciou 

War 


1^ 


Columbia  ©nibersiitp 

mtljeCitpof^ekDgorfe 


LIBRARY 


GIVEN    BY 


GIFT  OF 
H.  W.  WILSQM 


vA 


THE  AUDACIOUS 
WAR 

By  clarence  W.  BARRON 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

1915 


GIFT  OF 
H.  VV.  WILSON 

WAR  2  2   1929 


COPYRIGHT,    I914  AND   I915,   BY  THE   BOSTON   NEWS   BUREAU   COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT,   I915,   BY   CLARENCE   W.    BARRON 

ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 

Published  February  iqis 


540.31 


IF! 

Suppose  't  were  done! 

The  lanyard  pulled  on  every  shotted  gun; 

Into  the  wheeling  death-clutch  sent 

Each  millioned  armament, 

To  grapple  there 

On  land,  on  sea  and  under,  and  in  air! 

Suppose  at  last  't  were  come  — 

Now,  while  each  bourse  and  shop  and  mill  is  dumb 

And  arsenals  and  dockyards  hum,  — 

Now  all  complete,  supreme. 

That  vast,  Satanic  dream!  — 

Each  field  were  trampled,  soaked, 

Each  stream  dyed,  choked, 

Each  leaguered  city  and  blockaded  port 

Made  famine's  sport; 

The  empty  wave 

Made  reeling  dreadnought's  grave; 

Cathedral,  castle,  gallery,  smoking  fell 

'Neath  bomb  and  shell; 

In  deathlike  trance 

Lay  industry,  finance; 

Two  thousand  years' 

Bequest,  achievement,  saving,  disappears 

In  blood  and  tears. 

In  widowed  woe 

That  slum  and  palace  equal  know. 

In  civilization's  suicide,  — 

What  served  thereby,  what  satisfied? 

For  justice,  freedom,  right,  what  wrought? 

Naught!  — 


vi  IF 

Save,  after  the  great  cataclysm,  perhap 

On  the  world's  shaken  map 

New  lines,  more  near  or  far. 

Binding  to  king  or  czar 

In  festering  hate 

Some  newly  vassaled  state; 

And  passion,  lust  and  pride  made  satiate; 

And  just  a  trace 

Of  lingering  smile  on  Satan's  face! 

—  Boston  News  Bureau  Poet. 


This  poem  has  been  called  the  great  poem  of  the  war.  It  was 
written  just  preceding  the  war,  and  published  August  1  by  the 
"Boston  News  Bureau."  Of  it,  and  its  author,  Bartholomew  F. 
Griffin,  the  following  was  'OTitten  by  Rev.  Francis  G.  Peabody: 
"The  English  poets.  Bridges,  Kipling,  Austin,  and  Noyes,  have 
all  tried  to  meet  the  need  and  all  have  lamentably  failed.  I  am 
proud  not  only  that  an  American,  but  that  a  Harvard  man,  should 
have  risen  to  the  occasion." 


PREFACE 

The  Scotch  have  this  proverb:  "War  brings 
poverty.  Poverty  brings  peace.  Peace  brings 
prosperity.  Prosperity  brings  pride.  And  pride 
brings  war  again."  Shall  the  world  settle  down 
to  the  faith  that  there  is  no  redemption  from  an 
everlasting  round  of  pride,  war,  poverty,  peace, 
prosperity,  pride,  and  war  again? 

But  it  was  not  primarily  to  settle,  or  even 
study  this  problem  that  I  crossed  the  ocean  and 
the  English  Channel  in  winter.  As  a  journalist 
publishing  the  Wall  Street  Journal,  the  Boston 
News  Bureau,  and  the  Philadelphia  News  Bu- 
reau, and  directing  news-gathering  for  the  bank- 
ing and  financial  communities,  I  deemed  it  my 
duty  to  ascertain  at  close  hand  the  financial  fac- 
tors in  this  war,  and  the  financial  results  there- 
from. 

I  found  myself  on  the  other  side,  not  only  in 
the  domain  of  the  finance  encircling  this  war, 
but  unexpectedly  in  close  touch  with  diplomatic 
and  government  circles.  The  whole  of  the  war, 
its  commercial  causes,  its  financial  and  military 
forces,   its   tremendous   human   sacrifices,   the 


viii  PREFACE 

conflicting  principles  of  government,  and  the 
world-wide  issues  involved,  all  lay  out  in  clear 
facts  and  figures  after  I  had  gathered  by  day 
and  night  from  what  appeared  at  first  to  be  a 
tangled  web. 

I  learned  who  made  this  war,  and  why  at  this 
time  and  for  what  purposes,  present  and  pro- 
spective; and  from  facts  that  could  not  be  set 
down  categorically  in  papers  of  state.  No  papers, 
"white,"  "gray,"  or  "yellow,"  could  present  a 
picture  of  the  war  in  its  inception  and  the  rea- 
sons therefor. 

There  is  no  powerful  organization  over  na- 
tions to  keep  the  peace  of  Europe  or  of  the  world, 
as  nations  are  in  organization  over  states,  and 
states  over  cities,  to  insure  peace  and  justice, 
without  strife  or  human  sacrifice. 

The  immediate  causes  of  this  war,  and  I  be- 
lieve they  have  not  before  been  presented  on  this 
side  of  the  ocean,  are  connected  with  commercial 
treaties,  protective  tariffs,  and  financial  progress. 

It  may  be  wondered  that  in  our  country,  which 
is  the  home  of  the  protective  tariff  system  and 
boasts  its  great  prosperity  therefrom,  there  has 
been  as  yet  no  presentation  of  the  business 
causes  beneath  this  war.  Our  great  journalists 
are  trained  to  find  interesting,  picturesque,  and 


PREFACE  ix 

saleable  news  features  from  big  events.  Details 
of  war's  atrocities  and  destructions  are  to  most 
people  of  the  greatest  human  interest,  and 
rightly  so.  As  a  country  we  have  no  interna- 
tional policy,  and  European  politics  and  policies 
have  never  interested  us. 

Germany  is  buttressed  by  tariffs  and  commer- 
cial treaties  on  every  side.  Years  ago  I  was  told 
in  Europe  that  the  commercial  treaties  wrested 
from  France  in  1871  were  of  more  value  to  Ger- 
many than  the  billion  dollars  of  indemnity  she 
took  as  her  price  to  quit  Paris.  But  I  did  not 
realize  until  I  was  abroad  this  winter  how  Euro- 
pean countries  had  warred  by  tariffs,  and  that. 
Germany  and  Russia  were  preparing  for  a  great 
clash  at  arms  over  the  renewal  of  commercial 
and  tariff  treaties  which  expire  within  two  years, 
and  which  had  been  forced  by  Germany  upon 
Russia  during  the  Japanese  War. 

German  "Kultur"  means  German  progress, 
commercially  and  financially.  German  progress 
is  by  tariffs  and  commercial  treaties.  Her  armies, 
her  arms,  and  her  armaments,  are  to  support  this 
*'Kultur"  and  this  progress. 

I  believe  I  have  told  the  story  as  it  has  never 
been  told  before.  But  the  facts  cannot  be  drawn 
forth  and  properly  set  in  review  without  some 


X  PREFACE 

presentation  of  the  spirit  of  the  peoples  of  the 
European  nations. 

K  all  the  nations  of  Europe  were  of  one  lan- 
guage, the  spirit,  the  soul  of  each  in  its  distinc- 
tive characteristics  might  stand  out  even  more 
prominently  than  to-day. 

Then  we  could  see  even  more  clearly  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood  and  nationality  that  stands  out 
resplendent  as  the  soul  of  France.  We  should  see 
the  spirit  of  empire  and  of  trade,  interknit  with 
administrative  justice,  as  the  soul  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. ^Ye  should  see  Germany  an  uncouth  giant 
in  the  center  of  Europe,  viewing  all  about  him 
with  suspicion,  and  demanding  to  know  why,  as 
the  youngest,  sturdiest,  best  organized,  and  hard- 
est working  European  nation,  he  is  not  entitled 
to  overseas  or  world  empire. 

But  few  persons  on  this  side  have  compre- 
hended the  relation  of  this  great  war  to  the 
greatest  commercial  prizes  in  the  world:  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  Asia  Minor,  with 
its  Bagdad  Railroad  headed  for  the  Persian 
Gulf,  Mesopotamia  with  its  great  oil-fields,  un- 
developed and  a  source  of  power  for  the  re- 
creation of  Palestine  and  all  the  lands  between 
the  Mediterranean,  the  Indian  Ocean,  and 
Asia. 


PREFACE  xi 

The  greatest  study  for  Americans  to-day  is  the 
spirit  of  nations  as  shown  in  this  war,  and  great 
lessons  for  the  United  States  may  be  found  in  the 
finance,  business,  patriotism,  and  justice  that 
stand  forth  in  the  British  Empire  as  never  before. 
She  is  rohing  up  a  tremendous  war-power  within 
her  empire  and  throughout  Europe,  encirchng 
the  German  war-power.  But  she  is  Hkewise  look- 
ing to  her  own  people  and  her  own  workers,  fill- 
ing her  own  factories  and  every  laboring  hand 
to  the  full  that  she  may  keep  her  business  and 
profits  at  home,  and  with  her  business  and  pro- 
fits and  accumulated  capital  and  income  prose- 
cute the  greatest  war  of  history. 

She  is  not  unmindful  in  any  respect  of  what  the 
war  may  send  her  way.  In  the  breaking-away 
and  the  breaking-up  of  Turkey,  she  sees  a  clear 
field  for  Egypt,  the  realization  of  the  dream  of 
Cecil  Rhodes  of  the  development  of  the  whole 
of  Africa  by  a  Cape  to  Cairo  Railroad,  and  she 
sees  her  own  empire  and  peoples  belting  the  world 
in  power,  usefulness,  and  justice,  and  with  a 
sweep  and  scope  for  enterprise  and  development 
beyond  all  the  previous  dreams  of  this  genera- 
tion. 

The  United  States,  with  hundreds  of  millions 
of  banking  reserves  released  and  giving  base  for 


xii  PREFACE 

a  business  expansion  double  any  we  have  had 
before,  seems  suddenly  paralyzed  in  its  business 
activities  and,  comprehending  only  that  the  loaf 
of  bread  is  a  cent  higher  and  a  pound  of  cotton 
a  few  cents  lower,  it  is  wondering  on  which  side 
of  its  bread  the  butter  is  to  fall. 

Meanwhile,  it  talks  politics,  asks  if  prosperity 
here  is  to  come  during  or  after  the  war;  and  hav- 
ing little  comprehension  of  the  meaning  of  the 
national  throbs  that  on  the  other  side  of  the 
globe  are  pulsating  the  world  into  a  new  era  of 
light,  liberty,  and  expansion  by  individual  labor, 
it  refuses  to  take  up  its  daily  home-task  and  go 
forward. 

In  the  hope  that  these  pages  may  be  useful 
to  my  fellow  countrymen  in  giving  them  the  facts 
of  this  war,  its  commercial  causes,  its  financial 
progress,  its  sacrifice  in  humanity,  —  sacrifice 
that  could  not  be  demanded  but  for  a  greater 
future,  —  these  papers  are  taken,  as  completed 
in  my  financial  publications  in  this  month  of 
February,  and  placed  before  the  reading  com- 
munity in  book  form,  as  requested  in  hundreds 
of  personal  letters. 

They  were  never  conceived  or  written  with 
any  idea  of  their  permanent  preservation.  They 
were  prepared  for  the  banking  community,  which 


PREFACE  xiii 

demands  news-facts  and  figures  discriminatingly 
presented.  The  banker  wants  the  truth;  he  will 
make  his  own  argument  and  reach  his  own  con- 
clusions. 

The  reader  will  readily  see  that  these  chapters 
are  day-to-day  issues  aiming  to  present  that 
news  from  the  standpoint  of  finance.  But  under 
all  sound  finance  must  be  primarily  the  truth  of 
humanity.  They  do  not  claim  to  be  from  begin- 
ning to  end  a  harmonious  book-presentation  of 
the  war,  but  it  is  believed  that  they  contain  the 
essential  fundamental  war-facts;  and  the  aim 
was  to  present  them  in  most  condensed  expres- 
sion. 

They  cover  the  first  six  months  of  this  most 
Audacious  War.  Whether  it  is  to  continue  for 
another  six  months  or  another  sixteen  months  is 
not  so  material  as  the  character  of  the  peace  and 
what  is  to  follow. 

No  greater  problem  can  be  placed  before  the 
world  than  tliat  of  how  the  peace  of  nations  may 
be  maintained.  Having  cleared  my  own  mind 
upon  this  subject,  I  submit  it  in  the  final  chap- 
ter, which  naturally  follows  after  that  treating  of 
the  lessons  for  the  United  States  from  this  war. 

Only  in  an  international  organization,  with 
power  to  make  decrees  of  peace  and  enforce 


xiv  PREFACE 

them,  and  with  insurance  of  powers  above  those 
of  all  dissenters,  can  we  find  the  peace  of  nations 
as  we  have  found  the  peace  of  cities.  This  Auda- 
cious War  has  forced  such  an  alliance  as  can  yield 
this  power.  Its  transfer  to  the  support  of  an 
International  tribunal  can  make  and  keep  the 
peace  of  Europe  and  eventually  of  the  world. 

Then  may  the  earth  cease  to  be,  in  history, 
that  steady  round  of  Prosperity,  Pride,  and  War. 

C.  W.  Barron. 

February  15,  1915. 


CONTENTS 

I.  The  World's  Greatest  Contest    ...  1 

n.  Tariffs  and  Co:mmerce  the  War  Causes  13 

m.  The  Political  Causes  of  the  War     .      .  23 

IV.  Peace  Proposals 32 

V.  Fr^vnce  and  the  French 41 

VI.  The  Position  of  France 52 

Vn.  French  Finance 61 

Vm.  The  Belgl\n  Sacrifice 74 

IX.   RUSSL\   AND   THE   RUSSIANS 85 

X.  The  English  Position 93 

XI.  English  War  Forces Ill 

XII.  English  War  Fin.ixce 119 

XIII.  German  Resources 130 

XIV.  Is  it  the  People's  War.^ 142 

XV.  The  German  Position 151 

XVI.  The  Lessons  for  A^ierica        ....  164 
XVn.  What  Peace  Should  Mean       ....  177 


THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  world's   greatest   CONTEST 

The  Censorship  —  The  Warship  "Audacious"  —  Mine  or  Tor- 
pedo? —  The  Battle  Line  —  War  by  Gasolene  Motors  —  The 
"  Boys  from  Canada  —  The  Audacity  of  it. 

The  war  of  1914  is  not  only  the  greatest  war  in 
history  but  the  greatest  in  the  poHtical  and  eco- 
nomic sciences.  Indeed,  it  is  the  greatest  war  of 
all  the  sciences,  for  it  involves  all  the  known 
sciences  of  earth,  ocean,  and  the  skies. 

To  get  the  military,  the  political,  and  espe- 
cially the  financial  flavor  of  this  war,  to  study 
its  probable  duration  and  its  financial  conse- 
quences, was  the  object  of  a  trip  to  England 
and  France  from  which  the  writer  has  recently 
returned. 

One  can  hear  "war  news"  from  the  time  he 
leaves  the  American  coast  and  begins  to  pick  up 
the  line  of  the  British  warships  —  England's  far- 
flung  battle  line  —  until  he  returns  to  the  dock, 
but  thorough  investigation  would  convince  a 


2  THE   AUDACIOUS   WAR 

trained  news  man  that  most  of  this  war  gossip  is 
erroneous. 

This  war  is  so  vast  and  wide,  from  causes  so 
powerful  and  deep,  and  will  be  so  far-reaching 
in  its  effects  that  no  ill-considered  or  partial 
statements  concerning  it  should  be  made  by  any 
responsible  wi-iter. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  the  exact  facts  by 
any  ordinary  methods  is  very  great.  There  is  a 
strict  supervision  of  all  news,  and  to  insure  that 
by  news  sources  no  "aid  or  comfort"  is  given  to 
the  enemy,  a  vast  amount  of  pertinent,  legiti- 
mate, and  harmless  news  and  data  is  necessarily 
suppressed.  The  censors  are  military  men  and 
not  news  men,  and  act  from  the  standpoint  that 
a  million  facts  had  better  be  suppressed  than 
that  a  single  report  should  be  helpful  to  the 
enemy.  Only  in  Russia  are  reports  of  news  men 
from  the  firing  line  allowed. 

One  hears  abroad  continually  of  the  battle  of 
the  Marne,  of  the  battle  of  the  Aisne,  of  the  con- 
test at  Ypres,  and  the  fight  on  the  Yser,  but  no 
outside  man  has  yet  been  permitted  to  describe 
any  of  these  in  detail,  or  to  give  the  strategy,  be- 
ginning, end,  or  boundaries  of  them,  or  even  the 
distinct  casualties  therefrom.  Indeed,  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  the  oflScial  histories,  when  they  are  written, 


THE   WARSHIP  AUDACIOUS  3 

can  do  this,  for  these  are  the  emphasized  por- 
tions of  one  great  and  continuous  battle  that 
went  on  for  more  than  one  hundred  days. 

To  illustrate  the  strength  of  the  hand  on  the 
English  war  news,  it  may  be  noted  that  there  is 
no  mention  permitted  in  the  English  press  of 
such  a  ship  as  the  "Audacious."  Yet  American 
papers  with  photographs  of  the  "Audacious"  as 
she  sinks  in  the  ocean  are  sold  in  London  and  on 
the  Continent.  Outside  of  London  not  ten  per 
cent  of  the  people  know  anything  concerning 
this  boat  or  her  finish. 

This  word  "finish"  would  be  disputed  in  any 
newspaper  or  well-informed  financial  office  in 
London  where  it  is  daily  declared  that  although 
the  "Audacious"  met  with  an  accident,  her  guns 
have  been  raised  and  will  go  aboard  another 
ship  of  the  same  size,  purchased,  or  just  being 
finished,  and  named  the  "Audacious."  Indeed, 
I  was  informed  on  "good  authority"  that  the 
"Audacious"  was  afioat,  had  been  towed  into 
Birkenhead  and  that  the  repairs  to  her  bottom 
were  nearly  finished.  You  can  hear  similar 
stories  wherever  the  "accident"  is  discussed.  I 
have  heard  it  so  many  times  that  I  ought  to 
believe  it.  Yet  if  one  hundred  people  separately 
and  individually  make  assurances  concerning 


4  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

something  of  which  they  have  no  personal  knowl- 
edge, it  does  not  go  down  with  a  true  news  man. 
I  was  able  to  run  across  a  man  who  saw  the  affair 
of  the  "Audacious."  He  laughed  at  the  stories 
of  shallow  water  and  raised  guns.  His  position 
was  such,  both  then  and  thereafter,  that  I  was 
sure  that  he  knew  and  told  me  the  truth. 

Later  I  learned  that  the  "Audacious"  was 
too  far  off  the  Irish  coast  to  permit  of  talk  of 
shallow  water,  and  that  neither  guns  nor  30,000- 
ton  warships  are  raised  from  hf ty-f athom  depths. 

Yet  I  am  willing  to  narrate  what  has  not  been 
permitted  publication  in  England,  and  I  think 
not  elsewhere:  that  the  mines  about  Lough 
Swilly,  along  the  Scotch  and  Irish  coasts,  and  in 
the  Irish  Sea,  were  laid  with  the  assistance  of 
English  fishing-boats  flying  the  English  flag. 
These  boats  had  been  captured  by  the  Germans 
and  impressed  into  this  work. 

There  are  also  stories  of  Irish  boats  and  Nor- 
wegian trawlers  in  this  work,  but  I  secured  no 
confirmation  of  such  reports. 

It  is  still  unsettled  in  British  Admiralty  circles 
as  to  whether  the  "Audacious"  came  in  contact 
with  a  mine  or  torpedo  from  a  German  sub- 
marine. Two  of  her  crew  report  that  they  saw 
the  wake  of  a  torpedo.    Reports  that  the  peri- 


MINE  OR  TORPEDO  5 

scope  of  a  submarine  showed  above  the  water  I 
have  reason  to  reject. 

EngHsh  reports  were  suppressed  —  the  ad- 
miralty claimed  this  right,  since  there  was  no  loss 
of  life  —  in  the  belief  that  if  the  ship  was  tor- 
pedoed by  a  submarine,  the  Germans  would  give 
out  the  first  report,  and  thereby  be  of  assistance 
in  determining  the  cause.  But  to-day  the  Ger- 
mans have  their  doubt  as  to  where  the  "Auda- 
cious" is,  and  as  to  whether  or  not  she  was  ever 
really  sunk. 

Expert  opinion  is  divided  in  authoritative 
circles  in  England  as  to  the  cause  of  the  disaster; 
but  more  than  400  mines  have  been  swept  up 
along  the  Irish  and  Scotch  coasts  by  the  English 
mine  sweepers. 

'  While  upon  this  subject,  I  ought  to  narrate 
that  the  study  of  this  topic  has  convinced  me 
that  the  Germans  have  a  long  task  if  they  hope 
within  a  reasonable  number  of  months  to  reduce 
by  submarine  torpedo  practice  the  efficiency  of 
the  English  navy  to  a  basis  that  will  warrant 
German  warships  coming  forth  to  battle. 

Every  battleship  is  protected  by  four  destroy- 
ers. Submarines,  when  detected,  are  the  most 
easily  destroyed  craft.  They  have  no  protection 
against  even  a  well-directed  rifle  bullet.    Their 


6  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

whole  protection  is  that  of  invisibility.  Their 
plan  of  operation  is  to  reach  a  position  during 
the  night,  whence  in  the  early  morning  they  can 
single  out  an  unprotected  warship  or  cruiser  not 
in  motion,  and  launch  against  her  side  a  well- 
directed  torpedo,  before  being  discovered. 

The  place  for  England's  battleships  is  where 
they  are:  in  the  harbors  with  their  protecting 
nets  down  until  they  are  called  for  in  battle.  In 
motion  or  action,  submarines  have  little  show 
against  them. 

The  Japanese  at  Port  Arthur  found  that  pro- 
tecting nets  picked  up  many  torpedoes  and  sub- 
marines. Since  that  time,  torpedoes  have  been 
made  with  cutting  heads  to  pierce  steel  nets  en- 
circling the  warships,  but  their  effectiveness  has 
not  so  far  been  practically  demonstrated. 

It  is  Kitchener's  idea  to  keep  the  enemy  guess- 
ing. Therefore  he  was  rather  pleased  than  other- 
wise when  the  story  of  Russians  coming  through 
England  from  Archangel  was  told  all  over  the 
world.  The  War  OflBce  winked  at  the  story  and 
certainly  had  no  objection  to  the  Germans  get- 
ting a  good  dose  of  it.  I  think  that  story  might 
have  been  helpful  at  the  time  when  the  Allies 
were  at  their  weakest,  but  they  do  not  now  need 
Russians,  or  stories  of  Russians,  from  Archangel. 


THE  BATTLE  LINE  7 

The  story  must  also  go  by  the  board  that  a 
submarine  north  of  Ireland  meant  either  a  new 
type  of  boat  that  could  go  so  far  from  Germany, 
or  an  unknown  base  nearer  Scotland. 

Submarines  as  now  built  could  go  from  Ger- 
many around  the  British  Isles  and  then  across 
the  Atlantic  —  in  fair  weather. 

The  eastern  boundary  of  France  divides  itself 
into  four  very  nearly  equal  sections.  Italy  and 
Switzerland  are  the  lower  quarters  of  this  bound- 
ary line;  and  of  the  upper  quarters  Belgium  is  the 
larger  and  Germany  the  smaller.  The  southern 
half  of  the  German  quarter  boundary  is  a  moun- 
tain range  and  on  the  open  sections  stand  the 
great  fortifications  of  France  and  Germany,  re- 
garded by  both  countries  as  practically  impreg- 
nable. The  defence  of  France  on  the  Belgian 
frontier  was  the  treaty  which  guaranteed  the 
neutrality  of  the  smaller  country. 

When  Germany's  conquering  hosts  came 
through  Belgium,  the  war  soon  became  a  battle 
of  human  beings  rather  than  of  fortifications. 
Neither  the  French  nor  the  Germans  had  learned 
from  practical  experience  the  modern  art  of  fight- 
ing human  legions  in  ground  trenches,  but  both 
sides  quickly  betook  themselves  to  this  rabbit 
method  of  warfare. 


8  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

To-day  from  Switzerland  to  the  North  Sea  is 
a  double  wall  of  4,000,000  men,  all  fighting,  not 
only  for  their  own  existence  but  for  the  existence 
of  their  nationality  —  their  national  ideals.  They 
are  protected  by  aeroplanes,  flying  above,  that 
keep  watch  of  any  large  movements. 

They  are  backed  by  4,000,000  men  in  reserve 
and  training  who  keep  the  trenches  filled  with 
fighting  men,  as  10,000  to  20,000  daily  retire  to 
mother  earth,  to  the  hospitals,  or  to  the  camps  of 
the  imprisoned.  On  the  North  Sea  and  the  Eng- 
lish Channel  they  are  supported  by  fleets  of 
battleships,  cruisers,  submarines,  and  torpedo 
boat  destroyers  that  occasionally  "scrap"  with 
each  other,  the  German  boats  now  and  then 
attacking  the  English  coast  and  harbors  and  the 
English  boats  now  and  then  assisting  to  mow 
down  the  German  troops  when  they  approach 
too  near  the  coast.  But  the  great  dread  and  key 
to  this  naval  warfare  is  the  modern  submarine. 

Submarines,  aeroplanes,  and  motor  busses  are 
three  elements  of  warfare  never  before  put  to 
the  test;  and  the  greatest  of  these  thus  far  is  the 
gasolene  motor-car.  By  this  alone  Germany  may 
be  defeated.  France  and  England  are  rich  in 
gasolene  motor  power,  and  supplies  from  Amer- 
ica are  open  to  them.  A  year  ago  there  were  less 


WAR  BY   GASOLENE   MOTORS  9 

than  90,000  motor-cars  in  Germany,  and  Prince 
Henry  started  to  encourage  motoring  to  remedy 
this,  but  the  Germans  are  slow  to  respond  in 
sport.  Indeed  they  know  Httle  of  sport  as  the 
EngHsh  understand  it,  of  sportsman  ethics  or 
the  sense  of  fair  play  in  either  sport  or  war.  They 
do  not  comprehend  the  English  applause  for  the 
captain  of  the  "Emden"  and  stand  aghast  at 
the  idea  that  he  would  be  received  as  a  hero  in 
England.  When  a  daring  aeroplane  flier  in  the 
performance  of  his  duty  has  met  with  mishap 
and  landed  on  German  soil,  he  is  not  welcomed 
as  a  hero.  He  is  struck  and  kicked. 

The  German  is  not  to  be  blamed.  It  is  the 
way  he  has  been  educated  to  "assert  himself," 
as  the  Germans  phrase  it.  Indeed,  when  the  cap- 
tain of  the  "Emden"  was  taken  prisoner  and 
was  congratulated  by  the  Australian  commander 
for  his  gallant  defense,  he  was  so  taken  aback 
that  he  had  to  walk  away  and  think  it  over.  He 
returned  to  thank  his  adversary  for  his  compli- 
mentary remarks.  With  true  German  scientific 
instinct  he  had  to  find  his  defeat  in  a  physical 
cause,  remarking,  "It  was  fortunate  for  you  that 
your  first  shot  took  away  my  speaking  tubes." 

The  English  are  sports  in  war,  —  too  sporty 
in  fact.  General  Joffre  warned  General  French 


10  THE   AUDACIOUS  WAR 

over  and  over  again,  "Your  oflScers  are  too  auda- 
cious; you  will  soon  have  none  to  command," 
and  his  words  proved  true.  The  English  oflficers 
felt  that  the  rules  of  the  game  called  upon  them 
to  lead  their  men.  They  became  targets  for  the 
guns  of  the  foe,  until  one  of  the  present  embar- 
rassments in  England  is  the  unprecedented  loss 
of  officers. 

This  has  now  been  changed  and  Kitchener 
insists  that  both  officers  and  men  shall  regard 
themselves  as  property  of  the  Empire,  that  the 
exposure  of  a  single  life  to  unnecessary  hazard  is 
a  breach  of  discipline.  For  this  reason  Victoria 
Crosses  are  not  numerous,  less  than  two  dozen 
having  been  conferred  thus  far;  and  it  has  been 
quietly  announced  that  no  Victoria  Crosses  will 
be  conferred  for  single  acts  of  bravery  or  where 
only  one  life  is  involved.  It  must  be  team  work 
and  results  affecting  many. 

For  this  reason  also  it  has  been  decreed  that 
the  33,000  Canadians  in  training  at  Salisbury 
Plain  shall  not  be  put  in  the  front  until  they 
have  learned  discipline  in  place  of  the  American 
initiative. 

These  Canadian  boys  receive  their  home  pay 
of  four  shillings,  or  $1  per  day,  while  the  English 
Tommy  gets  one  quarter  of  this  amount.   The 


THE   AUDACITY  OF  IT  11 

Canadians  are  fine  fellows,  feeling  their  inde- 
pendence and  anxious  to  be  on  the  firing  line, 
but  the  War  Office  recognizes  that  soldierly  in- 
dependence cannot  be  allowed  in  this  war.  It  is 
not  improbable  that  the  Canadian  troops  will 
eventually  be  dispersed  that  their  strong  indi- 
vidual initiative  may  be  thoroughly  harnessed 
under  the  organization  before  they  are  trusted 
in  the  trenches.  They  are  not  to  be  permitted  to 
go  there  to  be  shot  at,  but  to  use  their  splendid 
physiques,  fighting  abilities,  and  patriotism  — 
more  British  than  the  English  themselves  —  in 
strict  organization. 

This  is  not  to  be  an  audacious  war  on  the  part 
of  the  Allies.  It  is  first  a  defensive  war  in  which 
the  Germans  are  the  heaviest  losers.  On  the 
part  of  the  Germans  it  is  an  audacious  war  and 
its  very  audacity  has  astounded  the  whole  world. 
But  Germany  never  meant  to  war  against  the 
world  collectively.  That  was  the  accident  of  her 
bad  diplomacy. 

The  audaciousness  of  Prussian  war  concep- 
tions began  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century. 
They  did  not  grow  out  of  the  war  with  the 
French  in  1870,  for  Bismarck's  legacy  to  the 
German  nation  was  a  warning  against  any  war 
with  Russia.    The  German  scheme  was  con- 


12  THE  AUDACIOUS   WAR 

cocted  by  the  successor  of  Bismarck  himself, 
none  other  than  Kaiser  Wilham  II.  He  planned 
a  steady  growth  of  German  power  that  would 
first  vanquish  the  Slav  of  southeastern  Europe 
and  give  Germany  control  through  Constanti- 
nople and  Asia  Minor  to  the  Persian  gulf;  then, 
as  opportunity  arose,  a  crushing  of  France  and 
repression  of  Russia;  and  the  overthrow  of  the 
British  empire;  and  then  the  end  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  to  be  followed  by  American  tariffs 
dictated  from  Germany. 

This  seems  so  audacious  a  program  as  to  be 
almost  beyond  comprehension  in  America.  Yet 
it  will  be  made  clear  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II 

TARIFFS   AND    COMMERCE   THE   WAR 
CAUSES 

War  with  Russia  was  Inevitable  —  Finance  and  Tariffs  made 
Germany  great  —  Commercial  War  —  How  Germany  loses  in 
the  United  States  —  The  Tariff  Danger. 

For  the  causes  of  this  most  audacious  war  of 
1914  one  must  study,  not  only  Germany  and  her 
imperial  policy,  but  most  particularly  her  rela- 
tions with  Russia.  These  relations  are  very  little 
understood  in  America,  but  they  become  vital 
to  us  when  open  to  public  view. 

Disregarding  all  the  counsels  of  Bismarck  and 
the  previous  reigning  Hohenzollerns,  the  pres- 
ent Kaiser  has  steadily  offended  Russia.  War 
with  her  within  two  years  was  inevitable,  irre- 
spective of  any  causes  in  relation  to  Servia.  Rus- 
sia knew  this  and  was  diligently  preparing  for  it. 
Germany  —  the  war  party  of  Germany  — 
knew  it  and  with  supreme  audacity  determined 
through  Austria  first  to  smash  Servia  and  put 
the  Balkan  States  and  Turkey  in  alignment  with 
herself  for  this  coming  war  with  Russia. 

Sergius  Witte  is  one  of  the  great  statesmen  of 


14  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Russia.  He  formulated  the  programme  for  the 
Siberian  railroad  and  Russian  Asiatic  develop- 
ment. The  party  of  nobles  opposed  to  him  ar- 
ranged that  he  should  receive  the  humiliation 
of  an  ignoble  peace  with  Japan,  under  which  it 
was  expected  that  Russia  would  have  to  pay  a 
huge  indemnity. 

But  when  Witte  arrived  at  the  naval  station 
at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  to  make  the 
famous  treaty  with  Japan,  his  first  declaration 
was,  "Not  one  kopeck  for  indemnity."  He  won 
out  and  returned  in  triumph  to  Russia. 

But  during  tlie  progress  of  the  Japanese  war 
Germany  thrust  her  commercial  treaties  upon 
St.  Petersburg.  Goods  from  Russia  into  Ger- 
many were  taxed  while  German  goods  went  un- 
der favorable  terms  into  Russia,  with  the  result 
that  Russia  has  had  a  struggle  now  for  ten  years 
to  keep  her  gold  basis  and  her  financial  exchanges. 

It  was  Witte  who  was  sent  to  Berlin  to  pro- 
test against  these  proposed  treaties  and  secure 
more  favorable  terms.  W^itte  made  his  protest 
and  refused  to  accept  the  German  demands. 
Then  suddenly  he  received  peremptory  orders 
from  the  Czar  to  grant  all  the  demands  of  Ger- 
many. The  Czar  declared  Russia  was  in  no  con- 
dition to  have  trouble  with  Germany.    These 


WAR  WITH  RUSSIA  WAS  INEVITABLE    15 

commercial  treaties  expire  within  two  years. 
Russia  many  months  back  proposed  the  discus- 
sion of  new  terms.  Germany  responded  that 
the  present  treaties  were  satisfactory  to  her  and 
she  should  call  for  their  renewal. 

This  meant  either  further  humiliation  to  Russia 
or  war.  Russia  had  already  suffered  the  affront 
of  being  forced  by  Germany  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  to  assent  to  the  taking  by  Austria  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  in  violation  of  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin.  The  Czar  realized  many 
months  ago  that  Russia  must  now  fight  for  her 
commercial  life.  She  would  not,  however,  be 
ready  for  the  war  until  1916. 

Let  Americans  consider  what  this  means  —  a 
German  war  over  commercial  tariffs  —  and  see 
what,  if  successful  in  Europe,  it  would  lead  to. 

The  German  nation  is  a  fighting  unit  under 
the  dominion  of  Prussia,  the  greatest  war  state, 
not  only  of  the  empire,  but  of  the  world.  Having 
welded  Germany  by  the  Franco-Prussian  war 
into  a  nation  with  unified  tariffs,  transporta- 
tion, currency,  and  monetary  systems,  Prussia 
has  been  able  to  point  to  the  war  as  the  cause  of 
the  phenomenal  prosperity  of  Germany. 

It  is  a  popular  fallacy  in  Germany  that  mil- 
itarism makes  the  greatness  of  a  nation.    Ger- 


16  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

many*s  prosperity  did  not  begin  with  the  war  of 
1870.  This  was  only  the  beginning  of  German 
unity  which  made  possible  unified  transporta- 
tion and  later  unified  finances  and  tariffs.  Sev- 
eral years  after  the  war,  France,  which  had  paid 
an  indemnity  to  Germany  of  a  thousand  million 
dollars,  or  five  billion  francs,  was  found,  to  the 
astonishment  of  Bismarck,  more  prosperous  than 
Germany  which  had  thus  received  the  expenses 
of  her  military  campaign  and  a  dot  of  Spandau 
Tower  war-reserve  moneys. 

In  1875  came  the  great  Reichsbank  Act,  which 
consolidated  all  the  banking  power  of  the  em- 
pire. Then  came  her  scientific  tariffs  which  put 
up  the  bars  here,  and  let  them  down  there,  ac- 
cording as  Germany  needed  export  or  import 
trade  in  any  quarter  of  the  earth.  The  German 
people,  on  a  soil  poorer  than  that  of  France, 
worked  hard  and  long  hours  for  small  wages. 
But  they  worked  scientifically  and  under  the 
most  intelligent  protective  tariff  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  In  a  generation  they  built  up  a  for- 
eign trade  surpassing  that  of  the  United  States 
and  reaching  $4,500,000,000  per  annum.  By 
her  rate  of  progress  she  was  on  the  way  to  dis- 
tance England,  whose  ports  and  business  were 
open  to  her  merchants  without  even  the  full 


COMMERCIAL   WAR  17 

English  income  tax.  She  built  the  biggest 
passenger  steamers  ever  conceived  of  and 
reached  for  the  freight  carrying  trade  of  the 
world.  She  mined  in  coal  and  iron  and  built 
solidly  of  brick  and  stone.  She  put  the  world 
under  tribute  to  her  cheap  and  scientific  chem- 
istry. She  dug  from  great  depths  the  only  potash 
mines  in  the  world  and  from  half  this  potash  she 
fertiHzed  her  soil  until  it  laughed  with  abundant 
harvests. 

The  other  half  she  sold  outside  so  that  her  own 
potash  stood  her  free  and  a  profit  besides.  No 
nation  ever  recorded  the  progress  that  Ger- 
many made  after  the  inauguration  of  her  bank 
act  and  her  scientific  tariffs.  The  government 
permitted  no  waste  of  labor,  no  disorganization 
of  industry.  Capital  and  labor  could  each  com- 
bine, but  there  must  be  no  prolonged  strikes,  no 
waste,  no  loss;  they  must  work  harmoniously 
together  and  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  empire. 

Germany  did  not  want  war  except  as  means  to 
an  end.  She  wanted  the  fruits  of  her  industry. 
She  wanted  her  people,  her  trade,  and  her  com- 
merce to  expand  over  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
but  to  be  still  German  and  to  bring  home  the 
fruit  of  German  industry. 

Germany  has  been  at  war  —  commercial  war  — 


18  THE  AUDACIOUS   WAR 

with  the  whole  world  now  for  a  generation,  and 
in  this  warfare  she  has  triumphed.  Her  en- 
terprise, her  industry,  and  her  merchants  have 
spread  themselves  over  the  surface  of  the  earth 
to  a  degree  little  realized  until  her  diplomacy 
again  slipped  and  the  present  war  followed  — 
such  a  war  as  was  planned  for  by  nobody  and  not 
expected  even  by  herself.  She  was  giving  long 
credits  and  dominating  the  trade  of  South  Amer- 
ica. She  had  given  free  trade  England  a  fright 
ty  the  stamp,  "Made  in  Germany."  She  was 
pushing  forward  through  Poland  into  Russia  to 
the  extent  that  her  merchants  dominated  War- 
saw and  were  spreading  out  even  over  the  Si- 
berian railroad.  Her  finance  was  intertwined 
with  that  of  London  and  Paris. 

In  the  United  States  she  was  the  greatest 
loser.  Here  taxes  were  lowest  and  freedom 
greatest.  German  blood  flowed  in  the  veins 
of  20,000,000  Americans  and  not  one  fourth  of 
them  could  she  call  her  own.  The  biggest  news- 
paper publisher  in  America,  W^illiam  Randolph 
Hearst,  figured  that  New  York  was  one  of  the 
big  German  cities  of  the  world.  He  turned  his 
giant  presses  to  capture  the  German  sentiment. 
He  spent  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  upon  Ger- 
man cable  news,  devoting  at  times  a  whole  page 


GERMANY  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES   19 

to  cable  presentations  from  Europe  which  he 
thought  would  interest  Germans.  But  the  in- 
vestment proved  fruitless;  he  found  there  was  in 
America  no  German  sentiment  such  as  he  had 
reckoned  upon.  He  could  not  increase  his  circu- 
lation, for  the  German-Americans  seemed  little 
concerned  as  to  what  happened  in  Berlin  or 
Bavaria. 

Prussia  learned  what  Hearst  learned,  that 
Germans  were  soon  lost  in  the  United  States. 
She  studied  this  exodus  and  the  wage  question 
and  by  various  arts  and  organizations  arrested 
the  German  emigration  to  America.  She  saw 
to  it  that  employment  at  home  was  more  stable. 
It  was  figured  that  if  the  German  emigration 
could  be  centralized  under  the  German  eagle  it 
would  be  to  her  advantage.  The  question  was 
where  to  get  land  that  could  be  made  German. 
Europe  has  for  some  years  expected  a  German 
dash  in  Patagonia,  and  the  Europeans  outside 
of  Germany  have  taken  very  kindly  of  late  years 
to  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  In  Africa  and  the 
islands  of  the  sea  the  German  colonial  policy 
has  not  been  a  success.  Dr.  Dernburg  as  colo- 
nial secretary  has  many  a  time  stood  up  in  the 
Reichstag  and  warned  the  Germans  that  the 
home  military  system  and  rules  were  not  adapt- 


20  THE  AUDACIOUS   WAR 

able  to  colonization  in  foreign  parts;  that  Ger- 
mans must  adapt  themselves  to  foreign  coun- 
tries and  not  attempt  at  first  to  make  their  man- 
ners the  standard  in  the  colonies  they  undertook 
to  dominate. 

While  German  colonies  have  not  yet  passed 
beyond  the  experimental  stage,  German  tariffs 
and  German  commerce  have  been  great  suc- 
cesses. 

The  population  of  Russia  is  166,000,000  peo- 
ple. This  is  the  latest  figure  I  gathered  from 
those  intimate  with  the  government  at  St.  Peters- 
burg. This  is  just  100,000,000  more  than  Ger- 
many. Germany  thinks  she  must  trade  to  her 
own  advantage  with  the  people  now  crowding 
her  eastern  border. 

The  example  of  America  in  putting  up  tariff 
bars  against  "Made  in  Germany"  has  many 
advocates  in  England  and  in  the  rest  of  the  world. 

WQien  France,  only  a  few  years  ago,  was  an- 
gered that  Italy  should  sign  up  in  "triple  alli- 
ance" with  Austria  and  Germany,  she  did  not 
dare  to  attack  Italy  with  arms,  but  she  did  at- 
tack Italy  by  tariff  measures,  and  for  a  time 
Italy  and  France  fought  —  by  tariffs. 

What  might  be  the  position  of  Germany  if 
the  American  protective  tariff  system  were  ex- 


THE  TARIFF  DANGER  21 

panded  over  the  earth?  In  the  view  of  some  peo- 
ple tariffs,  taxation,  and  armaments  go  hand 
in  hand.  There  is  a  town  in  Prussia  that  finished 
payment  only  twenty  years  ago  on  the  indem- 
nity Napoleon  exacted  from  it. 

Can  a  country  afford  to  develop  an  industrial 
system  dependent  upon  an  outside  world  and 
then  suddenly  find  the  outside  world  closed  by 
tariff  barriers? 

When  an  American  ambassador  protested 
against  Bismarck's  discriminatory  treatment 
of  American  pork,  the  great  chancellor  asked, 
"What  have  you  to  talk  with?  You  have  no 
army  or  navy."  "  No,"  said  the  American  am- 
bassador, "but  we  have  the  ability  to  build 
them  as  big  as  anybody.  Do  you  wish  to  tempt 
us?"  "No,"  said  the  German  chancellor,  "  and 
your  goods  shall  not  be  discriminated  against." 

Dr.  Dernburg  has  given  the  key  to  the  Ger- 
man colonial  military,  tariff,  and  financial  pol- 
icy. German  unity  in  tariffs  and  transportation 
has  made  German  prosperity,  and  Dr.  Dernburg, 
her  former  colonial  secretary  and  now  in  New 
York,  says  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine  and  the  chan- 
nel ports  must  be  free  to  Germany  and  that  Bel- 
gium must  come  into  tariff  and  transportation 
union  with  Germany.   Belgium  is  being  taxed, 


22  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

tariffed,  pounded,  and  impounded  into  the  Ger- 
man empire. 

There  is  some  difference  in  size  between  Bel- 
gium and  Russia,  but  no  difference  in  principle 
with  respect  to  their  German  relations. 

*'  World  power  or  downfall,"  Bernhardi  put  it. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   POLITICAL   CAUSES   OF   THE   WAR 

A  State  with  no  Morals  —  A  Peace  Treaty  sundered  —  Where 
Germany  fails  —  A  Thunderbolt. 

Sending  his  little  expedition  to  China  the 
Kaiser  said:  — 

"When  you  encounter  the  enemy  you  will 
defeat  him;  no  quarter  shall  be  given,  no  prison- 
ers shall  be  taken.  Let  all  who  fall  into  your 
hands  be  at  your  mercy.  Just  as  the  Huns  one 
thousand  years  ago,  under  the  leadership  of 
Attila,  gained  a  reputation  in  virtue  of  which 
they  still  live  in  historical  tradition,  so  may  the 
name  of  Germany  become  known  in  such  a  man- 
ner in  China  that  no  Chinaman  will  ever  again 
dare  to  look  askance  at  a  German." 

Belgium  was  made  an  example  of.  According 
to  the  German  idea  she  should  have  accepted 
money  and  not  stood  in  the  way  of  German 
progress. 

German  military  progress  is  allied  with  Ger- 
man commercial  progress.  It  is  a  mistake  in  the 
conception  of  Germany  to  imagine  that  she  wars 


24  THE   AUDACIOUS   WAR 

for  the  purpose  of  war  or  for  the  development 
and  training  of  her  men. 

The  first  principle  of  German  "Kultur"  as  re- 
spects the  state  is  that  the  sole  business  of  the 
government  is  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 
state.  No  laws  having  been  formulated  in  respect 
to  the  business  of  a  state,  the  government  is 
without  moral  responsibility,  and  the  laws  ap- 
plicable to  individual  action  do  not  apply  to  the 
state.  Individuals  may  do  wrong,  but  the  state 
cannot  do  wrong.  Individuals  may  steal  and  be 
punished  therefor,  but  the  state  cannot  steal.  It 
is  its  business  to  expand  and  to  appropriate. 
Individuals  may  murder  and  be  punished  for  the 
crime,  but  it  is  the  business  of  the  state  to  kill  for 
state  development  or  progress. 

The  English-speaking  conception  of  morality 
is  that  what  applies  to  an  individual  in  a  com- 
munity applies  to  the  aggregate  of  the  individ- 
uals, that  the  state  is  only  the  aggregate  of  the 
individuals  exercising  the  natural  human  func- 
tions of  government  for  law  and  order. 

This  is  entirely  outside  the  German  concep- 
tion. In  the  German  conception  a  government 
comes  down  from  above  and  not  up  from  the 
people.  It  is  not  the  people  who  rule  or  govern, 
but  the  government  from  above  rules  the  people, 


A   PEACE   TREATY   SUNDERED        25 

and  the  people  must  implicitly  follow  and  obey; 
thus  is  national  progress  and  human  progress. 

The  whole  of  Germany  believes  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Kaiser:  that  law  and  war  flow  down 
through  him  and  that  neither  can  be  questioned 
by  the  individual.  Obedience,  union,  efficiency, 
progress,  and  progress  through  war,  if  necessary, 
are  cardinal  virtues. 

Germany  does  not  desire  war  with  Russia,  but 
German  progress  requires  the  continuance  of 
present  tariff  relations,  and  if  war  is  a  means  to 
that  desirable  end,  war  is  divine. 

The  murder  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Austria 
was  an  incident  furnishing  Germany  and  Austria 
opportunity  to  carry  out  their  long-conceived 
programme  for  the  extension  of  their  influence 
through  the  growing  state  of  Servia. 

A  treaty  had  been  arranged  between  Greece 
and  Turkey,  and  was  to  have  been  signed  in 
July,  which  would  have  settled  many  things  in 
respect  to  Turkey  and  the  Balkan  states.  Rou- 
mania  and  Servia  were  in  agreement  concerning 
this  great  measure  for  peace  in  southeastern 
Europe. 

When  all  was  ready  for  the  final  conference 
and  the  signatures,  Austria  intervened  and  an- 
nounced her  opposition.    Then  suddenly  fol- 


d6  THE  AUDACIOUS   WAR 

lowed  the  bombshell  of  the  ultimatum  to  Servia, 
timed  at  the  precise  moment  to  stop  the  signing 
of  this  Turkish  treaty. 

Austrian  officials  admitted  privately  as  fol- 
lows, and  I  have  it  directly  from  parties  to  the 
negotiations :  — 

'*We  are  satisfied  that  Servia  would  punish 
the  murderers  of  Prince  Ferdinand  if  we  so  re- 
quested. We  are  satisfied  she  would  apologize  to 
Austria  if  we  requested  it.  But  our  aims  go  be- 
yond. We  demand  that  instead  of  the  proposed 
Turkish  treaty  the  Balkan  states  shall  come  into 
union  with  Turkey  under  the  influence  of  Aus- 
tria. To  accomplish  this  we  must  accept  no 
apology,  but  must  punish  Servia.  We  are  satis- 
fied that  Russia  is  in  no  financial  or  military 
position  to  interfere." 

Germany  with  its  enormous  spy  system  had 
secured  copies  of  the  confidential  state  papers  of 
the  Czar  and  transmitted  them  to  Vienna.  In 
these  were  warnings,  statistics,  and  compilations 
showing  all  the  financial  and  military  weak- 
nesses of  Russia:  that  her  great  gold  reserve  had 
been  largely  loaned  out  and  was  not  available 
cash  on  hand,  as  the  world  had  been  led  to  be- 
lieve; that  it  would  take  eighteen  months  more 
of  preparation  to  place  her  military  forces  in 


A  PEACE  TREATY  SUNDERED   27 

position  to  defend  the  country;  that  her  arms 
and  the  factories  to  build  them  were  not  ready. 
The  plans  of  Austria  and  Germany  were  to 
line  up  the  Balkan  states,  under  German  politi- 
cal and  trade  influences,  and  then  within  two 
years  to  have  it  out  with  Russia  and  again  impose 
the  German  tariffs  upon  her.  If  France  dared  to 
come  in,  it  would  certainly  be  an  attack,  and 
Italy  would,  under  the  Triple  Alliance,  assist  to 
defend  Austria  and  Germany.  Defeating  Russia, 
Germany  could,  at  that  time  or  later,  crush 
France  in  the  manner  in  which  Bismarck  had 
said  she  might  eventually  be  crushed  by  Ger- 
many for  Germany's  progress. 

Then,  having  made  more  onerous  tariff  trea- 
ties with  France  than  were  exacted  from  her  in 
1870  and  having  extended  German  trade  and 
military  influence  over  Russia,  Germany  would 
be  in  a  position  with  her  navy  to  try  out  the  long 
desired  issue  with  Great  Britain  for  the  control 
of  the  seas. 

Admiral  Von  Tirpitz  told  the  emperor  that  it 
must  be  at  least  two  years  more  before  the  Ger- 
man navy  would  be  able  to  try  conclusions  with 
England. 

The  German  plan  was  to  take  the  European 
countries  one  at  a  time.   The  German  informa- 


28  THE   AUDACIOUS   WAR 

tion  was  that  every  country  except  Germany  was 
unprepared,  and  that  information  was  true.  She 
was  fully  prepared  except  in  her  navy. 

One  of  the  leaders  among  those  great  business 
Lords  of  England,  who  sit  with  the  Commoners 
in  business,  but  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  respects 
legislation,  said  to  me  when  I  spoke  of  the  won- 
derful intelligence  of  Germany  in  research  and 
data,  scientific  and  political:  "But,  don't  you 
think  that  the  Germans  had  too  much  informa- 
tion and  too  little  judgment?" 

In  other  words,  they  had  a  stomach  full  of 
facts  but  no  capacity  to  digest  them.  They  knew 
as  much  about  Ulster  and  perhaps  more  than 
London  as  respects  facts  and  detailed  informa- 
tion, but  they  were  in  no  position  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  Ulster  or  the  unity  of  the  British  Em- 
pire the  moment  there  was  an  attack  from  the 
outside.  The  Germans  have  dealt  in  material- 
istic facts.  But  with  the  spirit  that  moulds  and 
makes  history  they  are  all  awry.  With  the  Ger- 
mans, individuals  are  units  and  are  counted 
from  the  outside,  never  from  the  inside.  That 
is  why  her  diplomacy  is  not  only  a  failure,  but 
offensive:  it  never  differentiates  among  nations 
and  peoples  according  to  that  which  is  within 
the  mind  and  the  heart  of  the  people. 


A  THUNDERBOLT  29 

The  German  Emperor  directed  the  Austrian 
ultimatum  to  Servia,  insisting  upon  stronger 
demands  than  were  at  first  proposed.  Then, 
turning  his  back  upon  the  scene,  he  was  able  to 
protest  that  he  was  not  responsible.  Yet  the 
published  correspondence  from  every  capital 
in  Europe  now  shows  that  the  German  Emperor 
fenced  off  every  attempt  to  get  Austria  to  mod- 
ify or  postpone  or  discuss  her  demands.  Ger- 
many was  ready  for  everything  except  the  inter- 
ference of  Great  Britain. 

A  private  telephone  rang  at  five  o'clock  one 
morning  in  Berlin  and  an  American  lady  was 
informed  from  a  social  quarter  that  "Some- 
thing dreadful  has  happened."  "  Something  aw- 
ful —  something  undreamed  of."  The  American 
lady  quickly  asked,  "Has  the  Kaiser  been  assas- 
sinated?" as  the  tone  over  the  telephone  indi- 
cated nothing  less. 

The  response  was,  "England  has  declared 
war!" 

That  was  the  most  unlooked-for  step  in  all  the 
German  calculations. 

Every  spy  report,  every  diplomatic  agency, 
military  and  civil,  had  reported  that  England 
was  out  of  the  running:  Ireland  in  revolution, 
India  in  sedition,  Canada,  Australia,  and  South 


so  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Africa  just  ready  to  break  away  from  the  British 
yoke. 

The  conception  of  the  British  empire  as  a  fed- 
eration of  free  peoples  governing  themselves, 
under  a  constitutional  monarchy,  is  something 
incomprehensible  in  the  German  idea  of  govern- 
ment. The  German  idea  is  of  colonies  attached 
to  and  paying  tribute  to  the  crown,  something  to 
be  ruled  over,  governed,  taxed,  and  made  to  serve. 

Russia  might  go  to  war  exposing  in  the  field 
her  weakness  already  spread  out  on  paper  by 
Russian  authorities,  with  copies  in  Vienna  and 
Berlin;  but  that  England  or  Great  Britain  could 
or  would  fight  at  this  time  was  an  impossibility; 
although  later  England  was  to  become  "The 
vassal  of  Germany." 

And  the  wonderment  of  Germany  has  become 
the  wonderment  of  the  world.  "Roll  up,"  said 
Kitchener,  and  2,000,000  men  sprang  to  arms. 
More  than  300,000  of  them  are  on  the  Continent; 
1,700,000  of  them  are  in  training. 

"Roll  up,"  said  Lloyd  George,  the  Chancellor 
of  the  British  Exchequer;  and  $1,700,000,000  of 
war  loan  is  rolling  into  the  British  Treasury,  a 
sum  one  half  the  national  debt  of  England  and 
nearly  twice  the  national  debt  of  the  United 
States. 


A  THUNDERBOLT  31 

If  necessary,  the  number  of  men  in  arms  will 
be  doubled  to  4,000,000  and  the  enormous  sub- 
scription just  made  to  England's  war  loan  will 
be  doubled  and  quadrupled. 

The  life  of  the  empire  as  respects  money  and 
men  is  at  stake,  and  no  sacrifice  is  too  great.  If 
treaties  are  "scraps  of  paper"  and  neutral  states 
are  to  have  no  rights  or  protection,  there  is  no 
safety  in  the  world,  no  sacredness  of  contracts; 
the  world  is  at  an  end  and  chaos  reigns. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PEACE   PROPOSALS  ' 

The  Bagdad  Railroad  —  The  English  Oil  Concession  —  The  Ger- 
man Alliance  with  Turkey  —  Austria  the  Hand  of  Germany  — 
The  Decay  of  Turkey  —  The  New  Map. 

How  ridiculous  are  American  peace  proposals 
concerning  the  Audacious  War  of  1914  may  be 
judged  from  this  announcement  which  I  am 
able  to  make :  — 

The  return  of  the  French  government  from 
Bordeaux  to  Paris  was  determined  upon  from 
two  points  of  view:  safety  and  political  necessity. 
The  French  people  were  angered  that  Paris 
should  have  been  deserted,  but  notwithstanding 
the  political  reasons,  which  were  more  forceful 
than  the  public  will  be  permitted  to  know,  the 
return  would  not  have  been  undertaken  had  not 
the  military  authorities  considered  the  move  a 
safe  one.  How  safe  will  be  evidenced  by  this  — 
that  at  both  Bordeaux  and  Paris  this  problem 
was  before  the  authorities:  "Events  have  now 
progressed  so  far  that  it  is  time  for  the  Allies  to 
consider  what  will  be  their  terms  of  peace.  These 
terms  must  be  divided  into  many  classes,  rang- 


THE   BAGDAD   RAILROAD  33 

ing  from  those  in  which  only  one  of  the  Allies  has 
an  interest  to  those  in  which  all  have  an  interest. 
Of  course,  the  latter  will  be  the  most  complex, 
and  it  is  time  now  to  begin  with  the  complexi- 
ties of  the  most  far-reaching  situation.  This  is 
Mesopotamia  and  the  Bagdad  railroad." 

Now  who  in  Washington  knows  anything 
about  Mesopotamia  or  the  Bagdad  railroad.^ 
Yet  here  is  the  key  of  the  most  far-reaching  prob- 
lem in  any  peace  proposals.  It  is  because  this 
matter  can  now  be  settled  that  the  plunging  of 
Turkey  into  the  war  by  Enver  Bey  has  made  all 
Europe  rejoice.  The  Germans  think  Turkey  is 
another  16j-inch  howitzer  or  "Jack  Johnson" 
putting  black  smoke  over  the  British  empire. 
The  rest  of  Europe  now  knows  the  whole  of 
Turkey  is  on  the  table,  and  the  carving,  it  is 
believed,  will  be  had  with  no  plates  extended 
from  either  Austria  or  Germany.  For  the  first 
time  the  Turkish  problem  can  be  really  settled 
instead  of  patched. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  astonished  to  learn  in 
Europe  that  American  banking  interests,  and 
American  contracting  and  engineering  firms  in 
alliance  therewith,  had  their  eyes  upon  Asia 
Minor  and  the  possibility  of  its  development 
by  American  railroad  enterprise.   I  was  aston- 


34  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

ished  to  learn  that  some  people  at  Constanti- 
nople had  authority  for  the  use  of  the  name  of 
J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.  Indeed,  a  railroad  conces- 
sion in  Asia  Minor,  the  details  of  which  it  is  not 
now  necessary  to  go  into,  had  been  arranged, 
I  was  told,  and  lacked  only  signatures.  The 
American  people  felt  that  the  Germans  were  the 
little  devils  under  the  table  who  stayed  the  hand 
of  the  Sultan,  and  kept  his  pen  off  the  parch- 
ment. Never  would  the  signature  come  down 
on  that  paper,  although  declared  to  have  been 
many  times  promised. 

The  English  were,  of  course,  vitally  interested 
in  any  railroad  concessions  in  Asia  Minor  as 
opening  the  route  to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  India. 
Money  talks  with  Turkey  as  nowhere  else.  The 
Germans  had  made  a  great  impression  upon  the 
Bosphorus.  Nobody  at  that  point  in  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  world  could  fail  to  see  the  wonder- 
ful commercial  progress  of  the  Germans  and  the 
military  power  that  stood  behind  ready  to  back 
it  up. 

A  concession  for  a  railroad  from  the  Bosphorus 
to  Bagdad  and  through  Mesopotamia  to  the 
Persian  Gulf  finally  went  to  Germany,  and  the 
signature  of  the  Sultan  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
paper.  There  was,  of  course,  the  usual  Oriental 


THE   ENGLISH   OIL   CONCESSION     35 

compromise,  and  the  concession  for  the  oil  fields 
of  Mesopotamia  went  to  the  English;  but  the 
signature  of  the  Sultan  is  still  lacking  to  that 
piece  of  paper. 

English  statesmen  announced  that  the  Bag- 
dad railroad  was  a  purely  private  enterprise, 
financed  in  Germany  by  people  associated  with 
the  Deutsche  Bank.  They  had  later  to  confess 
that  error.  Germany  laughed  and  later  openly 
announced  that  the  Bagdad  railroad  was  a  Prus- 
sian enterprise  of  state.  In  fact,  this  concession, 
which  is  likely  to  be  famous  in  history  when  the 
Allies  win,  was  handed  over  to  the  German  Em- 
peror personally  by  the  Sultan. 

Already  a  thousand  miles  of  this  road  have 
been  constructed  through  Asia  Minor  to  Mosul. 
The  concession  carries  the  mineral  rights  for  ten 
miles  on  either  side  of  the  railroad,  except 
through  the  oil  fields  of  Mesopotamia,  said  to 
be  among  the  greatest  of  the  oil  fields  of  the 
world.  They  are  really  part  of  the  famous  Rus- 
sian oil  territory  between  Batum  and  Baku,  or 
the  Black  and  Caspian  seas,  which  extends  not 
only  south  into  Mesopotamia  but  is  now  being 
developed  far  to  the  north  in  the  Ural  Mountains 
of  Great  Russia. 

Steadily  the  influence  of  Germany  progressed 


36  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

with  Turkey,  now  through  one  channel,  now 
through  another.  When  the  Bulgarian  war  broke 
out,  it  was  German  guns  and  German  officers 
and  German  money  that  upheld  the  Turks.  The 
French  put  their  money  on  Bulgaria  by  bank 
loans  to  her  treasury.  The  Russians  backed 
Servia.  The  French  laughed  and  so  did  all 
Europe  when  the  Turkish  troops  manned  by 
German  officers  were  beaten  back  to  Constanti- 
nople and  the  Bosphorus. 

Austria  extended  the  hand  of  friendship  to 
Bulgaria  and  induced  her  to  attack  her  allies, 
Servia  and  Greece,  thus  making  the  second 
Balkan  war.  The  result  was  the  loss  by  Bulgaria 
of  part  of  the  territory  she  had  acquired  and  a 
further  augmentation  in  the  importance  of  Ser- 
via. Bulgaria  has  never  forgiven  either  Servia  or 
Austria  for  this  defeat. 

The  Servians  are  the  pure-blooded  Slavs, 
while  the  Bulgarians  have  a  Turkish  admixture, 
whence  their  great  fighting  qualities.  The  Rou- 
manians just  north  of  Bulgaria  are  Italians,  and 
the  defeat  of  Turkey  in  Africa  by  Italy  did  not 
lessen  the  importance  of  this  enterprising  nation 
on  the  Danube,  fronting  Austria-Hungary  and 
Russia.  Both  Austria  and  Germany  were  losers 
in  all  three  wars;  while  the  treaty  ending  the 


AUSTRIA  THE   HAND   OF   GERMANY    37 

second  Balkan  war  magnified  Servia  of  the 
Slav  race  of  Russia.  This  is  the  important  and 
crucial  point  in  race  and  geography. 

Austria,  as  the  hand  of  Germany,  still  de- 
manded a  union  of  all  these  Balkan  states  with 
Turkey  and  under  the  segis  of  Austria,  —  which 
meant,  of  course,  Germany. 

The  aim  of  Germany  in  alliance  with  Turkey 
was,  through  Austria  in  gwa^z-sovereignty  over 
the  Balkan  states,  to  carry  German  influence 
by  the  Bagdad  railroad  right  through  Asia 
Minor  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  Germany  would  thus 
be,  when  the  work  was  finished,  a  mighty  mili- 
tary empire  with  rail  communications  cleaving 
the  center  of  Europe  and  extending  through 
Asia  Minor  to  Eastern  waters.  With  her  growing 
steamship  lines  she  would  touch  her  colonies  in 
the  Pacific  and  her  mighty  naval  base  at  Kiao- 
Chau  in  the  Far  East. 

.  Now,  while  Germany  is  besieged  on  all  sides 
and  Italy  and  Roumania  are  preparing  to  go 
into  the  war  with  the  Allies  that  they  may  have 
their  part  and  parcel  in  the  settlements,  it  is 
recognized  that  it  is  none  too  early  for  the  Allies 
to  consider  the  map  of  the  entire  eastern  hemi- 
sphere and  tackle  that  most  difficult  problem, 
the  Bagdad  railroad,  from  which  Turkey,  Asia 


S8  THE  AUDACIOUS   WAR 

Minor,  Mesopotamia,  and  Palestine,  the  great 
historic  countries  of  the  world,  must  be  par- 
celled out  or  dominated  and  developed. 

The  followers  of  Mohammed  are  no  longer  a 
unit.  They  number  175,000,000  people  in  the 
aggregate,  but  India  and  Egypt  have  gradually 
receded  in  sentiment  from  decadent  Turkey, 
now  numbering  only  about  20,000,000  people, 
and  defended  by  an  army  of  about  1,000,000. 
But  this  is  no  longer  an  army  of  united,  fighting 
Mohammedan  Turks ;  only  a  mixed  army  lacking 
in  unity,  discipline,  eflSciency  and  financial  base. 

Indeed,  such  are  the  financial  straits  of  Tur- 
key that  a  ten  per  cent  tax  has  been  levied  upon 
the  property  of  the  people.  If  you  hold  property 
in  Turkey  and  cannot  pay  ten  per  cent  of  the 
value  the  authorities  have  assessed  against  it,  it 
may  be  sold  or  confiscated  for  the  tax. 

WTbere  the  money  goes,  nobody  knows.  Ger- 
man influence  with  Turkey  has  a  financial  base; 
5,000,000  pounds  sterling  or  100,000,000  marks 
went  from  Germany  to  Constantinople  just  be- 
fore the  war,  according  to  reports  I  have  from 
people  in  the  international  exchange  markets. 
From  diplomatic  sources  I  learn  that  this  was 
just  one  half  of  the  payment  made  by  Germany 
to  Turkey.    The  other  100,000,000  marks  was 


THE   NEW   MAP  89 

probably  paid  in  war  supplies,  including  the  two 
famous  German  warships  that  the  English  al- 
lowed to  escape  from  the  Mediterranean  into 
Turkish  waters. 

The  little  English  boy  was  right  who  returned 
from  school  the  other  day  and  said,  "Hurray! 
I  don't  have  to  study  any  more  geography;  the 
old  maps  are  to  be  torn  up  and  the  new  map  has 
not  yet  been  made." 

It  is  because  of  the  making  of  this  new  map 
that  European  diplomacy  is  rolling  on  under- 
neath the  surface  faster  than  ever  before.  Bul- 
garia has  demanded  as  the  price  of  her  neutral- 
ity that  she  shall  have  what  she  lost  in  the  second 
Balkan  war.  The  Allies  have  responded :  "  What 
you  get  must  depend  upon  what  Servia  gets 
from  Austria  and  in  the  carving  up  of  Albania." 
Austria-Hungary  may  lose  Bosnia,  Herzegovina, 
Dalmatia,  and  some  more.  So  far  as  Servia  ac- 
quires territory  here  Bulgaria  may  push  farther 
south,  recovering  Adrianople  and  more  sea  coast 
on  the  iEgean. 

Roumania  wants  Transylvania  just  north  in 
Hungary,  occupied  by  2,500,000  people,  the  ma- 
jority Roumanians  —  this  will  make  her  10,000,- 
000  people  —  and  Italy  w^ants  territory  from 
Austria  and  naval  ports  on  the  Adriatic  sea. 


40  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Neither  Italy  nor  Roumania  has  its  full  war 
supplies  and  equipments.  Servia,  however,  has 
been  terribly  pounded,  by  Austria  and  but 
for  her  good  fortune  in  pushing  Austria  back 
out  of  Servia  in  December,  the  Roumanians 
with  their  450,000  well-organized  troops  might 
have  had  to  come  to  her  assistance  earlier  than 
was  prepared  for.  Indeed,  it  is  now  expected 
that  Italy  and  Roumania  will  move  against  Aus- 
tria within  a  few  weeks.  Russia  and  the  Allies 
are  making  their  agreements  for  this  interven- 
tion. 

And  what  does  America  know  about  these 
movements  on  the  European  chessboard,  and 
upon  what  basis  should  she  aspire  to  be  arbiter 
or  peace  adviser? 


CHAPTER  V 

FRANCE  AND   THE   FRENCH 

Signs  of  War  not  Conspicuous — Paris  reopened — A  Rejuvenation 
—  English  and  American  Help  —  French  Casualties  —  French 
Heroes. 

One  enters  France  nowadays  by  the  Folkestone 
and  Dieppe  route,  which  is  a  four-hour  Channel 
trip  or  longer,  or  by  Folkestone  and  Boulogne, 
a  Channel  trip  of  ninety  minutes  more  or  less. 
All  the  routes  to  Calais  are  used  by  the  govern- 
ment for  its  troops,  supplies,  and  munitions. 
England's  hospital  base  is  at  Boulogne.  Here  is 
the  center  of  her  Red  Cross  work,  with  a  dozen  big 
hospital  ships  commandeered  from  the  P.  &  O. 
line  and  bearing  distinctive  stripes  around  their 
hulls.  One  hospital  ship  is  set  apart  for  the 
wounded  Indians,  and  the  apartments  within 
are  fitted  up  according  to  the  various  religious 
castes  prevalent  among  the  troops  of  India  now 
fighting  in  France  and  Flanders.  Here  at  times 
puts  in  Lord  Zetland's  yacht,  fitted  out  by  Queen 
Alexandra  for  wounded  English  officers. 

When  you  travel  by  rail,  if  you  did  not  know 
that  war  was  in  the  country  you  would  never 


42  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

suspect  it,  unless  you  wondered  why  a  red- 
hatted,  blue-coated  guard,  with  a  rifle  carelessly 
swung  over  his  shoulder,  is  noticeable  now  and 
then  by  a  cross-road  or  near  the  buttress  of  an 
important  railroad  bridge.  You  pass  trains  of 
troops,  but  the  uniforms  are  quiet,  the  men  jovial 
and  unwarlike.  The  wounded  are  not  conspicu- 
ously moved  by  day. 

Although  you  are  not  many  miles  away  from 
the  firing  line,  where  an  average  of  more  than 
ten  thousand  are  daily  falling,  the  country  is  as 
peaceful  and  quiet  as  can  be  imagined.  The  big 
black  and  white  horses  are  winter  ploughing. 
The  red  and  black  cattle  and  the  sheep  and  hogs 
are  grazing  in  fields  and  pastures.  The  redden- 
ing willows  speak  of  an  early  spring,  and  the  full 
blue  streams  tell  the  brown  grasses  and  the  tall 
poplars  that  their  colors  will  soon  be  gayer. 

As  the  shadows  fall,  no  guard  comes  as  in 
England  to  pull  your  curtain  down  according  to 
military  orders;  and,  as  you  approach  Paris,  you 
see  families  dining  by  uncurtained  windows  in 
blazing  light.  You  are  astonished  after  your 
London  experience  of  semi-darkness  to  find  the 
boulevards  ablaze  and  no  apparent  fear  of  aerial 
enemies  or  sky-invasion,  although  aeroplanes 
and  Zeppelins  and  bombs  may  be  flying  and 


PARIS   REOPENED  43 

fighting  only  eighty  miles  away.  Now  and  then 
a  searchlight  illumines  the  heavens,  but  even 
searchlights  are  far  less  conspicuous  than  in 
London.  In  January  the  lights  were  ordered  to 
be  lowered;  but  Paris  will  not  stand  for  long 
London  fog,  gloom,  or  darkness.  The  French 
atmosphere  and  life  demand  light. 

Paris  is  gradually  getting  accustomed  to  the 
situation.  More  than  30  first-class  hotels  are 
partially  opened  and  advertising.  Many  of  the 
business  streets  have  a  semi-Sunday  appearance. 
Boulevards  running  from  the  Place  de  POpera 
are  well  filled  with  people,  and  nearly  all  of  the 
stores  are  now  open.  In  the  first  weeks  of  De- 
cember you  could  see  the  reopening  day  by  day, 
and  when  on  the  10th  the  government  returned 
to  Paris,  the  art  stores  and  the  jewelry  stores 
joined  with  the  confectioners,  trunk  dealers,  and 
book-men,  and  threw  open  shutters  that  had 
been  closed  four  months. 

Paris  is  now  normal  but  not  crowded.  Thea- 
ters are  reopening,  but  the  restaurants  must  be 
closed  at  ten  p.m.  The  inhabitants  young  and 
old  picnic  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  and  evince 
most  interest  in  the  defences  about  the  Paris 
gates,  —  the  moats,  the  new  trenches  that  have 
been  dug,  and  the  tree-trunks  that  have  been 


44  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

thrown  down  with  their  branches  and  tops  point- 
ing outward  as  though  to  interrupt  the  progress 
of  an  enemy.  Buildings  have  been  taken  down, 
and  the  forts  of  Paris  stand  forth  as  never  before; 
but  when  you  learn  how  unmanned  and  how  use- 
less they  are  in  modern  warfare,  you  can  but 
smile  and  join  with  the  people  in  their  curiosity 
excursions.  A  single  modern  shell  can  put  a 
modern  stone-and-steel  fort,  garrison  and  guns, 
entirely  out  of  commission. 

A  year  ago  Paris  looked  dirty  and  decadent. 
Her  building  fronts  were  grimy,  her  streets  were 
dirty,  and  there  was  a  general  carelessness  where 
before  had  been  art,  precision,  and  cleanliness. 
To-day  Paris  streets  are  clean.  There  is  even 
more  evidence  of  rebuilding  and  of  modern  con- 
veniences. Motor  street-sweepers  whirl  through 
the  squares,  not  singly  but  m  pairs  and  more  ex- 
tended series,  and  they  move  with  automobile 
rapidity,  quickly  cleansing  the  pavement. 

I  was  reminded  thereby  of  a  personal  experi- 
ence at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War.  At  breakfast  on  a  Sunday  morning 
with  one  of  America's  most  successful  million- 
aires, I  said,  "How  is  it  possible  that  the  stock 
market  can  be  rising  as  the  country  is  going  to 
war  —  a  war  that  may  cause  some  of  our  new 


ENGLISH  AND   AMERICAN  HELP     45 

warships  to  turn  turtle  and  may  bring  bombard- 
ment upon  our  sea-coast  cities?  Yet  before  the 
guns  are  booming  the  stock  market  is  booming. 
Indeed,  the  stock  market  began  to  boom  from 
the  time  we  declared  a  state  of  war." 

And  this  successful  multi-millionaire  replied 
quietly,  "Stocks  are  going  up  because  I  am  buy- 
ing them  and  every  other  intelligent  capitalist 
is  buying  them.  Look  out  of  the  window  there. 
That  sweeper  at  the  crossing  has  straightened 
up  and  is  sweeping  that  crossing  better  and  with 
more  energy  because  the  flags  are  flying,  and  the 
bells  are  ringing,  and  the  guns  will  soon  be  boom- 
ing. War  is  the  greatest  energizer  of  a  people. 
There  is  now  profit  in  industry  and  enterprise, 
and  financial  equities  have  increased  value." 
And  for  nearly  ten  years  the  stock  market  booms 
followed  in  the  wake  of  that  war  boom,  while 
construction  and  upbuilding  went  steadily  for- 
ward despite  agitation  and  restricting  laws. 

It  would  astonish  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan 
to  know  how  many  patriotic  Americans  are 
helping  France  and  what  they  are  doing  in  Red 
Cross  and  other  work.  I  was  surprised  to  meet 
a  former  member  of  the  New  York  Stock  Ex- 
change in  a  khaki  uniform.  I  said,  "Are  you 
still    an    American    citizen  .f^"     He    responded 


46  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

promptly,  "Certainly  I  am,  but  would  not  tlie 
boys  on  the  floor  of  the  Exchange  be  astonished 
to  see  me  in  this  uniform?" 

I  said,  "Were  there  not  men  enough  here  to  do 
this  work?" 

He  responded,  "Possibly,  but  quick  organi- 
zation was  wanted,  and  I  volunteered  and  have 
held  the  job."  And  he  was  off  in  his  high-pow- 
ered automobile  for  a  run  down  behind  the  firing 
line  to  one  of  the  Channel  ports. 

As  the  casualties  of  the  French  have  been  ten 
times  those  of  the  English,  American  and  Eng- 
lish sympathizers  have  turned  to  France  to  see 
if  they  might  *'do  something."  An  English  lady 
with  small  feet  and  delicate  hands  responded  to 
the  spirit  of  the  hour,  left  her  English  home  and 
her  servants,  and  went  to  the  hospital  front  in 
France.  She  wrote  home:  '*I  am  helping  not 
only  to  dress  the  wounds,  but  to  wash  dishes. 
My  soft  hands  are  parboiled  but  hardening;  my 
feet  are  sore;  and  my  legs  are  swollen.  I  lie 
down  thoroughly  exhausted  every  night,  but  I 
am  doing  something  and  am  happy." 

Mrs.  W.  L.  Wyllie,  wife  of  the  famous  marine 
etcher  on  the  south  English  coast,  looked  out 
upon  the  Channel  war-scenes,  and  took  ship  for 
France.   She  found  the  center  and  south  of  the 


ENGLISH  AND   AMERICAN   HELP     47 

country  one  vast  hospital.  At  Limoges  alone 
she  found  more  than  12,000  wounded,  and  32,000 
wounded  had  passed  through  that  city.  She 
found  the  hospital  in  need  of  special  bandages 
and  cross-bandages  for  multiple  wounds,  and 
back  she  flew  to  England  for  bales  of  bandages. 
For  weeks  she  was  crossing  and  recrossing  the 
English  Channel.  Soldiers  have  recovered  from 
as  many  as  twenty  and  thirty  bullet-wounds  in 
the  flesh. 

An  American  lady  assisting  in  the  English  Red 
Cross  work  told  me  that  she  saw  2000  wounded 
every  day  for  eleven  days  arriving  at  Boulogne. 

About  the  middle  of  December  I  learned  that 
orders  had  been  given  to  clear  the  Boulogne  hos- 
pital base  and  prepare  for  a  large  number  of 
wounded.  Relief  days  for  the  troops  at  the 
front  were  shortened,  and  it  was  intimated  to  me 
in  good  quarters  that  the  Germans  would  enjoy 
no  Christmas  in  their  trenches.  The  Allies  ad- 
vanced, counted  their  dead  and  wounded,  and 
ceased  in  the  attack. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  great  forward  move- 
ment can  be  made  on  either  side  from  or  against 
these  trenches  in  the  winter  time.  In  good  strat- 
egy and  diplomacy,  the  break-up  of  Germany 
should  come  from  other  quarters. 


48  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

There  is  considerable  typhoid  arising  from  the 
trench-work,  but  I  heard  it  stated  in  medical 
circles  that  the  Servian  troops,  with  their  milder 
climate,  had  found  a  new  way  of  healing  wounds. 
Not  having  the  hospital  base  and  equipment  of 
other  countries,  they  heal  their  wounds  in  the 
open  air  with  the  result  that  there  is  no  tetanus 
or  lock-jaw.  In  Switzerland  human  tubercu- 
losis is  now  being  cured  by  exposing  the  chest, 
directly  over  the  affection,  to  the  full  rays  of 
the  sun. 

The  casualties  of  this  war  have  been  tremen- 
dous for  France.  No  lists  of  her  dead  or  wounded 
are  published;  it  was  at  first  a  life-and-death 
struggle.  AMiile  the  total  casualties  —  killed, 
wounded,  missing,  and  prisoners  —  were  esti- 
mated in  the  press  reports  and  by  the  people 
as  600,000,  I  happen  to  know  that  they  were 
more  than  1,000,000.  Of  these,  of  course,  one 
third  or  more  will  return  to  the  battle-line,  and 
the  French  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  the  German  losses  are  far  larger.  But, 
viewed  from  a  financial  standpoint,  if  this  war 
is  not  too  prolonged  or  too  costly  in  life  and 
treasure,  France  will  emerge  from  it  rejuvenated 
and  reenergized. 

Her  people  are  serious  and  determined  as 


FRENCH   HEROES  49 

never  before.  They  now  welcome  strong  work 
and  strong  hands,  and  if  the  Republic  does  not 
respond  to  the  responsibilities  of  the  hour,  they 
will  not  as  in  1870  burn  and  destroy,  but  will 
set  up  another  government  in  quick  order  and 
wipe  out  the  weakness  and  inefficiency  found  to 
exist  when  the  strain  came  in  August,  1914. 

The  French  nation  has  never  before  been  put 
to  such  a  trial.  In  every  other  war  there  has 
been  no  threat  of  the  destruction  of  France.  In- 
deed, up  to  1870  France  was  the  great  nation  of 
Europe,  greatest  in  war  as  well  as  greatest  in 
peace.  When  she  attacked  Germany  in  1870, 
she  started  for  Berlin  with  full  confidence  in  her 
greatness.  And  when  she  paid  to  the  Germans 
a  billion  dollars  in  1871,  it  was  with  scorn  and 
contempt:  "Take  your  money  and  get  out!" 

When  Bismarck  in  1875  discovered  the  pros- 
perity of  France,  he  cunningly  set  about  encom- 
passing her  downfall.  He  knew  the  world  would 
not  approve  of  Germany  attacking  a  foreign  foe; 
there  was  no  excuse  that  could  be  found. 

Therefore,  as  he  himself  has  confessed,  he 
started  France  into  empire-colonial  upbuilding 
in  Africa  and  Asia,  with  the  full  intention  of 
leading  her  into  a  clash  with  England.  When 
this  point  was  reached  many  years  afterwards. 


50  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Delcasse  clearly  saw  the  situation,  and,  instead 
of  war,  made  friends  with  England.  All  the 
world  knows  the  result.  Germany  demanded  his 
resignation  from  the  French  Cabinet  under 
threat  of  war.  France  was  humiliated,  Del- 
casse dropped.  Later  he  led  the  movement  to 
strengthen  the  navy  of  France  as  well  as  the 
army.  It  may  be  declared  that  Delcasse  created 
the  Triple  Entente  and  thereby  saved  France 
and  Europe.  To-day  France  fights  a  wholly  de- 
fensive battle,  supported  on  the  one  side  by  the 
Russian  bear  and  on  the  other  by  the  British 
lion.  And  strongest  in  the  new  cabinet  of  France 
stands  Delcasse. 

France  was  chastened  by  the  war  of  1870.  She 
will  be  crushed  or  redeemed  by  the  war  of  1915. 
The  spirit  of  her  people  to-day  is  the  spirit  of 
sacrifice.  The  French  character  never  before 
shone  forth  so  nobly. 

"What  a  terrible  disfigurement!"  exclaimed 
a  thoughtless  lady  as  she  visited  the  wounded  in 
a  great  French  hospital. 

"Not  a  disfigurement  at  all,  madame,"  ex- 
claimed the  French  soldier.  "  A  decoration!" 

Out  of  this  war  may  come  great  political  and 
military  heroes.  There  is  one  general  in  France 
to-day  whose  name  is  not  widely  known  but  of 


FRENCH  HEROES  51 

whom  his  associates  say,  "He  is  not  only  the 
equal  but  the  superior  of  Napoleon."  But  the 
great  hero  throughout  Europe  to-day  is  the  King 
of  the  Belgians,  of  that  little  country  that  grew 
daily  bigger  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  as  it  grew 
daily  smaller  in  possessed  territory.  There  are 
those  who  believe  that  France  and  Belgium  will 
be  hereafter  closer  together  than  before,  and 
that —- stranger  things  have  happened  —  the 
Xing  of  the  little  Belgians  might  be  no  greater 
miracle  for  France  than  the  little  Corsican  more 
than  one  hundred  years  ago. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   POSITION   OF   FRANCE 

The  Iron  Hand  of  War  —  Paris  offered  in  Sacrifice  —  Faulty 
Mobilization  —  The  French  Army  —  The  Joffre  Strategy  — 
The  German  Retreat. 

The  position  of  France  to-day  cannot  be  com^ 
pared  with  that  of  any  other  country  in  the  war. 
The  French  people  have  a  distinctive  genius  all 
their  own.  They  are  still  the  greatest  people  in 
art  in  the  world.  Nothing  in  sculpture  or  paint- 
ing in  the  outside  world  yet  rivals  the  skill  of 
France.  Politically  the  French  are  trusting  chil- 
dren, vibrating  between  empires  and  republics, 
and  following  only  the  rule  of  success.  In  fin- 
ance they  were  accounted  great  a  generation 
ago.  In  savings  they  have  been  regarded  as 
world-leaders. 

\Mien  the  stern  reality  of  military  necessity 
suddenly  confronted  France  five  months  ago, 
there  was  the  same  old  story  of  graft,  fraud,  and 
a  deceived  people. 

But  the  war  authorities  gripped  France  with 
an  iron  hand.  The  military  traitors  and  grafters 
are  in  jail.  The  weaklings  in  the  oflBcial  line  have 


PARIS  OFFERED   IN  SACRIFICE      53 

been  cashiered.  The  politically  undesirable  have 
been  given  foreign  missions. 

There  was  political  as  well  as  military  wisdom 
in  the  return  of  the  government  from  Bordeaux 
to  Paris.  The  French  people  were  shocked  when 
they  learned  that  the  boasted  military  defences 
of  Paris,  "the  most  extensive  fortifications  in 
the  world,"  embracing  400  square  miles,  were 
unprovisioned  and  indefensible,  that  the  govern- 
ment had  fled,  and  that  there  was  no  army  to 
save  the  city. 

Indeed,  the  authorities  had  determined  to 
sacrifice  Paris  to  save  France.  General  Joffre 
had  no  men  to  spare  to  be  bottled  up  in  the  city. 
He  determined  that  his  armies  should  be  kept 
free  on  the  field. 

You  may  ask  anywhere  in  France,  Belgium,  or 
England  why  the  French  did  not  come  to  the 
relief  of  Belgium,  why  Paris  was  undefended, 
and  what  saved  it  after  Von  Kluck  had  led  seven 
armies  of  1,000,000  men  down  to  its  very  gates, 
and  you  will  get  no  satisfactory  answer. 

But  when  you  have  studied  the  situation  and 
the  record,  you  will  see  that  no  simple  answer 
can  be  readily  given.  A  brief  one  would  be: 
French  mobilization  plans  were  imperfect,  and, 
therefore,  Belgium  could  not  be  defended  by  the 


54  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

French.  But  motor-busses  did  what  the  rail- 
roads  were  unprepared  to  do,  and  finally  saved 
Paris  and  France. 

The  French  had  been  warned  many  months 
publicly  and  privately  that  their  mobilization 
plans  would  be  found  faulty  in  case  of  sudden 
hostilities.  The  railways  moved  perishable  goods 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  a  day  while  German 
and  Austrian  railways  bore  military  trains  at  the 
rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour. 

So  ill  prepared  were  the  French  in  their  mobili- 
zation plans  that  they  actually  summoned  to 
arms  the  men  who  were  to  man  the  railways,  and 
the  railways  themselves  were  deficient  in  rolling- 
stock  to  move  the  troops.  The  citizens  responded 
promptly  enough,  but  France  had  no  bureau- 
cracy or  military  plans  to  match  those  of  Ger- 
many, and,  as  throughout  French  history,  the 
leaders  of  the  people  failed  at  the  crucial  mo- 
ment. The  plodding  English  had  to  help  out  the 
French  railway  plans,  and  then  had  to  turn 
around  and  find  their  own  railroad  defects. 
When  England  first  sounded  the  call  to  arms, 
men  deserted  the  railroad  service  to  go  into 
training  to  such  an  extent  that  the  authorities 
had  to  stop  it  and  maintain  transportation  as, 
of  course,  an  important  arm  of  the  war-service. 


THE  FRENCH  ARMY  55 

The  history  of  the  unpreparedness  of  both 
England  and  France  has  yet  to  be  written.  It 
would  not  be  useful  to  print  much  that  is  already 
known.  There  are  two  political  sentiments  in 
both  countries,  and  political  issues  will  rise  again 
in  both  after  the  war. 

A  little  contemplation  here  will  show  the 
extravagance  of  many  estimates  of  the  number 
of  men  to  be  put  in  the  field  in  time  of  war. 
Many  estimates  have  taken  little  account  of  the 
number  of  men  required  to  handle  a  modern 
transportation  service,  and  the  supply  organi- 
zation to  back  up  an  effective  army  at  the  front. 
Transportation  and  war-supplies  are  on  such  an 
expanded  basis  as  was  not  dreamed  of  a  few 
years  ago.  The  war  plans  of  one  generation  can- 
not be  the  war  plans  of  another  either  on  land 
or  sea.  That  France  had  4,500,000  men  capable 
of  bearing  arms  did  not  mean  that  she  could 
hold  4,000,000  men  in  fighting  array  at  any  one 
time. 

After  five  months  of  war  France  had  only 
1,500,000  men  at  the  front,  and  from  the  camps 
and  military  organizations  she  expects  to  have 
ready  a  fresh  army  of  another  million  in  the 
spring.  But  she  mobihzed  nearly  4,000,000  men. 
Paris  industry,  trade,  and  commerce  could  shut 


56  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

down  in  a  day,  but  there  was  no  organization 
that  could  make  in  a  day  or  a  week  the  men  of 
France  into  an  army  at  the  front.  Her  600,000 
regular  troops  were,  of  course,  always  in  position 
to  be  thrown  on  the  defensive  at  the  German 
frontier.  None  of  the  nearly  4,000,000  additional 
men  could  be  got  with  arms  and  munitions  of 
war  into  Belgium,  to  meet  effectively  the  trained 
troops  of  Germany. 

The  German  troops  were  "moving"  as  early 
as  July  25,  while  all  the  governments  of  Europe, 
including  Austria,  were  negotiating  for  and 
hopeful  of  peace.  When  war  was  declared  against 
France,  she  promptly  offered  Belgium  five 
French  army  corps  for  defence.  King  Albert  de- 
clined, saying  there  had  been  no  invasion  of  Bel- 
gium by  Germany,  and  that  Belgian  neutrality 
was  guaranteed  by  treaty.  W' ithin  two  days  the 
German  guns  were  firing  on  Belgium;  but  when 
King  Albert  then  called  upon  France  for  protec- 
tion, the  response  was  that  the  French  troops 
which  had  been'  offered  had  been  placed  else- 
where. The  regular  troops  probably  had.  The 
new  troops  were  not  mobilized,  and  the  French 
transportation  system,  to  say  the  least,  had  not 
been  as  responsive  as  expected. 

France  paid  dearly  for  her  unpreparedness. 


THE   JOFFRE   STRATEGY  57 

Her  richest  provinces  were  invaded  by  the  Ger- 
mans and  are  still  held  by  the  Germans  in  con- 
siderable part. 

Caught  unprepared,  there  was  only  one  safe 
thing  for  General  Joffre  to  do  —  let  the  Ger- 
mans expand  far  from  their  base  while  the  French 
concentrated  between  the  German  border  and 
Paris,  to  strike  back  at  the  opportune  moment 
against  an  extended  and  weakened  line. 

The  march  of  the  armies  of  Von  Kluck  — 
"General  One  O'clock,"  they  called  him,  and 
said  his  fiercest  attacks  were  at  one  o'clock  — 
is  considered  a  masterpiece  of  military  precision. 
The  strategy  of  General  Joffre  which  foiled  him 
is  praised  throughout  France. 

The  plan  of  the  Germans  was  to  hold  the 
north  of  France  with  the  army  of  Von  Kluck 
while  the  Crown  Prince  moved  from  Luxem- 
burg straight  to  Paris.  This  was  theatrical,  dra- 
matic, and  Kaiserlike;  but  the  French  would 
not  consent.  They  persisted  in  holding  Ver- 
dun and  defeating  the  armies  of  the  Crown 
Prince. 

The  English  are  the  greatest  fighters  in  the 
world  in  retreat,  while  the  French  can  fight  best 
in  a  forward  movement.  The  little  expedition- 
ary army  of  England,  originally  100,000  men 


58  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

but  at  this  time  180,000  men,  held  the  right  flank 
of  Von  IQuck  in  the  retreat  from  river  to  river, 
from  hill  to  hill,  although  pounded  by  350,000 
trained  German  troops  massed  on  this  flank. 
This  retreat  put  the  stamp  of  English  bravery 
and  dogged  determination,  as  before,  on  the  map 
of  Europe.  Paris  was  open  and  exposed  to  any 
entry  which  the  Germans  wished  to  make.  The 
government  had  retired,  the  gold  reserves  of  the 
banks  had  been  moved,  the  people  in  large  num- 
bers had  fled. 

Indeed,  I  may  say  what  has  never  before 
been  printed,  that  President  Poincare  summoned 
the  "  architect"  of  the  city  to  the  American  em- 
bassy and,  with  tears  streaming  down  his  face, 
told  him  whence  he  must  take  his  orders  in  the 
future. 

Then  in  a  flash  went  the  orders  of  Joffre  along 
his  whole  concentrated  line  of  troops:  "The  re- 
treat has  ended,  not  another  foot;  you  die  here 
or  the  enemy  goes  back!"  He  had  chosen  the 
psychological  moment.  The  French  and  English 
had  burned  and  broken  the  bridges  as  they  re- 
treated, and  with  the  recoil  the  German  com- 
munications were  in  danger. 

A  fresh  force  of  50,000  held  in  reserve  near 
Paris  flew  by  motors  and  motor-busses  against 


THE   GERMAN  RETREAT  59 

the  right  wing  of  Von  Kluck,  which  the  English 
in  retiring  had  been  punishing  so  heavily.  Von 
Kluck  had  been  drawn  too  far  into  France  with 
no  support  on  his  left  from  the  army  of  the 
Crown  Prince,  which  the  French  had  held  at  bay 
but  with  a  tremendous  sacrifice  of  men.  The 
German  ammunition  and  supply-trains  were 
broken  and  the  armies  of  Von  Kluck  were  hurled 
back  from  Paris  about  as  rapidly  as  they  had 
come  forward. 

Then  the  Kaiser  took  a  hand  and  cried,  "  Now 
for  the  English;  take  the  Channel  ports;  for- 
ward against  Calais!"  and  again,  as  at  Liege, 
the  blood  of  the  Germans  soaked  the  soil  of  Bel- 
gium. The  Allies  dug  themselves  into  the  ground 
behind  the  rivers  and  canals,  and  drowned  the 
Germans  out  in  front;  and  when  an  advance  by 
the  seacoast  was  attempted,  the  English  naval 
guns  spilled  havoc  into  the  German  battalions. 
Four  nationalities  grappled  in  a  death-struggle, 
but  the  wall  of  the  Allies  held  from  Switzerland 
to  the  sea.  The  Allies  worked  most  harmoniously. 
Belgian  knowledge  of  topography  proved  supe- 
rior to  the  German  general-staff  maps.  The 
English  buttressed  the  French  financially  and 
in  transportation  and  food-supplies.  Indeed, 
Kitchener  at  one  time  fed  two  French  army 


60  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

corps,  or  80,000  troops,  for  eleven  days  without 
a  hitch. 

Although  England  had  not  the  trained  men, 
she  had  the  fundamental  military  organization, 
transportation,  food,  and  finance. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FRENCH   FINANCE 

Delayed  Budgets  —  The  Caillaux  Position  —  Outgeneralled  in 
Finance  —  Gold  Reserves  Undiminished  —  Allied  Finance  — 
No  Financial  Legislation  —  The  National  Defense  Loans. 

The  spectacle  of  England  loaning  money  to 
rich  France  —  20,000,000  pounds  sterling,  or 
$100,000,000  —  was  something  most  surpris- 
ing. 

The  French  have  been  considered  among  the 
best  financiers  and  economists  of  Europe.  The 
whole  world  has  been  envious  of  the  saving  abil- 
ity of  France,  and  has  invited  the  overflow  of  her 
accumulations  into  their  local  enterprises.  For 
many  years  France  has  had  the  lowest  interest 
rates  and  a  considerable  surplus  to  invest  in  out- 
side countries.  It  is  upon  France  that  Russia 
has  mainly  relied  for  funds  for  her  expanding  in- 
dustrial development.  In  the  Baring  crisis  she 
sent  her  gold  to  London  to  fortify  the  situation, 
and  in  the  American  crisis  of  1907  she  extended 
her  hand  across  the  sea.  Then  she  turned  about 
and  steadily  built  up  her  gold  reserve  in  the 
Bank  of  France,  from  $500,000,000  to  above 


62  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

$800,000,000,  although  her  people  were  not  ex- 
panding in  population,  industry,  or  enterprise. 

France  had  grown  so  confident  that  she 
seemed  at  one  time  to  have  lost  her  financial 
cunning. 

In  Germany  in  1913  I  was  told  that  German 
finance  had  passed  through  the  "fire  test,"  that 
two  years  of  building  recession  and  of  expanding 
commerce  had  placed  her  on  a  solid  financial 
base;  and  it  was  true. 

I  was  told  to  step  over  to  Paris  and  see  a  dis- 
ordered budget,  an  increasing  national  deficit, 
bad  investments  in  Mexico  and  South  America, 
and  disorganized  finance.  I  did  and  found  it 
all  true.  I  also  found  that  France  was  fully  able 
to  take  care  of  herself  without  any  outside  help, 
and,  but  for  the  specter  of  outside  interference, 
to  delay  her  financing  if  she  so  elected. 

It  has  been  something  of  a  mystery  as  to  how 
there  could  be  two  Balkan  wars  and  so  little  of 
public  finance  behind  them.  Of  course,  Russia 
and  France  helped  the  Balkan  States  and  Ger- 
many helped  Turkey.  The  money  of  France 
came  from  the  French  banks  and  was  loaned 
to  the  treasuries  of  the  Balkan  States  and  to 
Greece  —  to  Bulgaria  350,000,000  francs;  to 
Greece  250,000,000. 


THE  CAILLAUX  POSITION  63 

The  French  government  said  that  this  could 
not  be  financed  by  public  issue  after  the  war  un- 
til the  national  budget  itself  had  been  arranged, 
although  the  Credit  Lyonnais  was  permitted  to 
issue  a  $20,000,000  Servian  loan.  With  the  in- 
creasing cost  of  labor  and  supplies  the  French 
railways  had  been  running  behind,  and  France 
had  to  face  a  deficit  in  her  budget  of  something 
hke  1,000,000,000  francs,  or  $200,000,000,  per 
annum. 

It  was  proposed  last  January  that  the  govern- 
ment should  consolidate  its  indebtedness  and 
put  its  financial  house  in  order,  by  an  issue  of 
long-term  securities;  but  Caillaux  opposed  the 
programme  and  defeated  it  for  many  months. 
This  postponed  the  issue  of  the  Balkan  States' 
loans. 

To-day  Caillaux  is  about  the  most  hated 
man  in  France.  Although  he  is  financially  well- 
to-do,  the  people  believe  that  his  connections 
and  sympathy  with  Germany  were  too  close. 
The  German  press  took  his  side  in  the  famous 
Calmette  shooting  affair  and  the  trial  of  Madame 
Caillaux,  and  all  this  record  now  stands  forth 
most  threateningly  in  the  French  blood. 

I  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  say  that 
M.  Caillaux  has  been  under  arrest,  and  that  the 


64  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

police  of  Paris  have  declared  they  would  not 
be  responsible  for  his  safety.  It  has,  therefore, 
been  diplomatically  arranged  by  the  govern- 
ment that  he  should  be  now  in  Brazil  upon  a 
semi-diplomatic  and  trade  mission. 

The  French  loan  just  before  the  war  was  not  a 
popular  success.  The  reason  is  now  obvious.  It 
was  sold  short  from  other  European  capitals 
where  it  was  better  known  that  war  was  in  the 
air. 

When  a  famous  "bear"  operator  reappeared 
upon  the  Paris  Bourse  after  his  return  from 
Vienna,  whence  he  had  conducted  his  attack  on 
the  French  loan,  he  was  greeted  with  a  storm 
of  hisses.  The  French  Bourse  is  a  government 
institution  and  must  support  the  credit  of 
France  and  her  allies.  In  Vienna  they  knew  war 
was  planned  for  the  end  of  September,  even  be- 
fore the  assassination  of  the  Austrian  Crown 
Prince  at  Serajevo  June  28.  This  event  hastened 
but  did  not  make  the  war. 

Nevertheless,  instead  of  permitting  the  French 
banks  to  bring  out  the  Balkan  loans  thereafter, 
the  French  authorities  allowed  Turkey  to  come 
into  the  French  market  with  a  loan  for  25,000,000 
pounds,  or  625,000,000  francs. 

Some  people  pleaded  with  them  that  this 


GOLD  RESERVES   UNDIMINISHED     65 

money  would  be  used  against  France,  and  that 
every  franc  would  go  to  repay  the  German  loans; 
and  they  were  right. 

In  this  financial  situation  France  was  suddenly 
plunged  into  war,  and  while  Germany  and  Eng- 
land have  been  raising  money  by  the  billion,  the 
marvelous  thing  is  that  France  has  made  no 
public  issue  beyond  one-year  notes,  but  continues 
to  pay  her  bills  in  gold  and  has  the  exchanges  all 
in  her  favor.  Money  is  flowing  in,  and  not  out. 
It  was  most  marvelous  to  find  in  France,  in  the 
fifth  month  of  the  war,  prompt  payment,  no  dis- 
trust of  the  government  paper  issues,  gold  and 
paper  circulating  side  by  side,  and  no  strain  for 
gold  as  in  Germany. 

Nevertheless,  the  war  has  been  fought  thus 
far  for  the  most  part  on  the  paper  issues  of  the 
Bank  of  France  and  with  the  gold  reserve  of  that 
bank  undiminished. 

This  is  most  remarkable. 
The  first  reason  I  can  assign  for  it  is  that  the 
French  soldier  gets  twenty-five  centimes,  or 
five  cents  a  day,  or  one  fifth  the  pay  of  an  Eng- 
lish soldier.  Kitchener's  army  is  to-day  costing 
far  more  than  the  entire  French  army.  French 
food  is  locally  abundant  and  cheap,  notwith- 
standing the  octroi  or  French  local  tax  of  one 


66  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

eighth.  The  main  need  of  the  French  from  the 
outside  is  boots  and  horses.  The  EngHsh  in 
France  are  not  taxing  French  resources  at  all. 
All  their  food-supplies,  including  the  hay  for 
their  horses,  come  from  England. 

The  English  troops  are  also  well  supplied  with 
money  from  home.  Outside  the  regular  Tommy 
Atkins,  the  volunteers  and  territorials  coming 
into  France  have  abundant  money.  They  are 
the  men  from  the  cities  and  from  the  wealthiest 
families  in  the  country  life  of  England.  There 
are  more  than  300,000  of  them  on  French  soil, 
and  as  they  come  and  go  in  France,  they  are 
spending  not  less  than  four  shillings  a  day  each, 
or  nearly  four  times  their  w^ages.  This  makes  a 
daily  expenditure  of  60,000  pounds  sterling  in 
France,  and  calling  for  exchange.  Hence  the 
English  pound  has  been  at  the  lowest  price  in 
France  on  record,  24.95  and  sometimes  24.90. 

There  is  also  the  additional  reason  of  higher 
insurance  rates  for  the  transportation  of  money 
across  the  Channel, —  a  channel  infested  wuth 
mines  and  submarines.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing 
for  boats  crossing  the  Channel  to  sight  floating 
mines,  and  the  wonder  is  that  disasters  therefrom 
have  been  so  few. 
.    The  third  reason  is  that  France  has  very  large 


GOLD   RESERVES   UNDIMINISHED     67 

investments  and  credit  resources  outside,  and 
can  still  summon  money  from  abroad. 

You  see  more  English  than  French  soldiers  in 
the  life  of  Paris.  Their  khaki  uniforms  are  as 
conspicuous  there  as  in  London. 

The  character  of  the  early  enlistments  for  the 
front  in  London  is  illustrated  by  the  following 
story.  An  officer  entered  a  restaurant  where  a 
group  of  English  soldiers  in  khaki  uniforms  were 
enjoying  their  cigarettes  and  pipes.  The  officer 
threw  some  shillings  on  the  table  and  called, 
"Waiter,  give  these  men  some  beer." 

And  a  khaki  uniform  snapped  forth  a  sover- 
eign on  the  same  table,  and  cried,  "Waiter,  give 
this  officer  some  champagne." 

Bank  statements  are  queer  contraptions  now- 
adays. While  the  United  States,  with  less  gold 
in  the  country  and  less  reserve  in  the  banks  than 
formerly,  is  showing  the  most  enormous  sur- 
plus —  and  a  legitimate  and  better-protected 
surplus  by  reason  of  the  new  bank  act  —  and 
the  Bank  of  England  is  counting  $100,000,000  of 
gold  in  Canada  as  a  London  bank  reserve,  and 
Russia  has  counted,  as  gold  in  her  reserve,  money 
on  deposit  which  has  been  loaned  out  on  time; 
while  Belgium  is  doing  a  banking  business  from 
an  English  base,  and  Germany  is  inviting  gold 


68  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

from  the  jewelry  of  her  inhabitants  and  boasting 
her  gold  strength,  the  Bank  of  France  refuses 
to  publish  any  statement,  makes  no  boast,  but 
holds  more  gold  than  ever  before  in  her  his- 
tory. 

Only  a  few  weeks  before  the  war  was  her 
metal  base  put  above  $800,000,000.  Then  she 
suspended  oflScial  statements  until  one  was 
made  to  the  government  December  10,  and  this 
showed  $880,000,000  metal  base,  or  4,500,000,- 
000  francs.  Upon  this  her  note  issue,  which 
was  formerly  5,800,000,000  has  been  expanded 
to  nearly  10,000,000,000.  She  is  authorized  to 
issue  up  to  12,000,000,000  francs  in  paper. 

From  this  metallic  base  she  increased  her  bills 
receivable  by  3,000,000,000  francs,  or  about  the 
same  amount  that  the  Bank  of  England  dis- 
counted in  pre-moratorium  bills  under  the  back- 
ing of  the  government.  Each  country  took  on 
$600,000,000  of  mercantile  credits,  and  both 
countries  are  now  finding  this  item  receding.  In 
France  the  mercantile  credits  have  been  consid- 
erably reduced  —  the  increase  reduced  nearly  a 
half  —  because  the  men  are  at  the  front  and 
business  is  not  calling  for  the  credits  formerly 
in  use. 

The  Bank  of  France  also  promptly  advanced 


NO  FINANCIAL  LEGISLATION         69 

2,000,000,000   francs    or    $400,000,000    to    the 
government. 

In  the  last  few  weeks  of  1914  the  finances  of 
Hussia,  France,  and  Belgium  became  interlaced 
with  those  of  England,  and  gold  credits  for  the 
Allies'  supplies  were  established  around  the  world, 
shipments  from  North  America  going  both  east 
and  west  into  the  European  war.  Government 
credit  with  the  Bank  of  France  was  then  ex- 
tended, but  should  not  early  in  January  have 
been  more  than  $800,000,000. 

This  is  the  main  financial  assistance  on  which 
France  for  five  months  conducted  a  successful 
defensive  warfare,  with  1,500,000  men  at  the 
front  and  nearly  3,000,000  men  behind  them. 

The  next  most  remarkable  financial  feature  in 
respect  to  France  is  that  there  has  been  no  spe- 
cial financial  legislation,  in  fact  no  financial  leg- 
islation whatsoever,  except  the  December  bud- 
get vote  to  cover  government  expenses,  including 
the  war.  A  moratorium  was  set  up  by  decree, 
but  authorization  for  this  already  existed  under 
the  general  laws.  Under  this  moratorium  pay- 
ments were  permitted  at  first  of  5  per  cent,  then 
25  per  cent.  Later  depositors  were  permitted  to 
draw  from  the  banks  40  per  cent,  and  40  per  cent 
payments  became  the  rule.  Then  50  per  cent  for 


70  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

December,  and  in  January,  1915,  full  payment  to 
bank-depositors,  although  legally  the  morato- 
rium stands  to  March  1,  1915. 

Among  other  temporary  devices  in  French 
finance  was  the  issue  by  French  chambers  of 
commerce  in  the  south  of  France  of  small  pieces 
of  paper,  —  as  low  as  50  centimes  or  10  cents,  — 
used  only  for  circulation  and  change  locally. 

Many  banks  closed  their  branches  because 
they  had  not  the  clerks  to  man  them.  Many 
bankers  lost  three  fourths  of  their  staff  when  the 
mobilization  orders  were  issued,  and  all  over 
Paris  the  banks  are  closed  from  twelve  to  two 
because  of  the  limitations  of  the  staff.  When  the 
Credit  Lyonnais  reopened  its  branch  in  the 
Champs  Elysees  a  few  weeks  ago  it  was  manned 
by  women  clerks. 

The  government  loan  issued  in  the  summer  of 
1914  met  less  than  half  of  the  floating  indebted- 
ness and  1914  ordinary  deficit.  The  balance  as 
maturing  has  been  merged  into  the  national- 
defense  loan,  which  is  only  short-term  financing. 
On  the  10th  of  December  there  were  1,000,000,- 
000  francs  of  the  new  national-defense  loan  out- 
standing, but  it  was  being  subscribed  for  all  over 
France  daily.  This  national-defense  loan  con- 
sists of  three,  six,  nine,  and  twelve  months'  gov- 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  LOANS     71 

eminent  bills  bearing  5  per  cent  interest.  I 
figured  that  the  amount  issued  December  10 
was  for  the  most  part  used  to  provide  for  the 
maturing  floating  indebtedness,  and  for  the 
deficit  on  the  government  budget  aside  from  the 
expense  of  the  present  war. 

As  the  government  is  advancing  money  to 
Servia  and  to  Belgium,  the  loan  of  20,000,000 
pounds,  or  $100,000,000,  from  England  can  be 
readily  accounted  for. 

There  were  loans  from  the  big  banks  of 
France  for  the  government  at  the  opening  of  the 
war,  but  these  loans  I  was  assured  were  all 
merged  in  the  5  per  cent  national-defense  loans, 
which  have  not  exceeding  one  year  to  run. 

On  these  national-defense  loans  the  cautious 
Bank  of  France  will  advance  in  limited  amounts 
80  per  cent  of  the  face  value,  but  only  where  the 
government  loan  matures  within  three  months. 
The  great  principle  of  the  Bank  of  France  is 
to  keep  liquid.  Its  assets  must  always  be  mo- 
bile. 

There  is  only  one  point  at  which  French 
finance  should  be  criticized,  and  as  we  cannot 
know  all  the  details  of  the  stress  of  the  military 
position  when  Paris  was  abandoned,  her  mobiliz- 
ing of  the  reserves  still  in  disorganization,  and 


72  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

her  transportation  awry,  we  may  not  be  in  a 
position  to  level  any  just  criticism. 

But  it  must  be  set  down  in  the  interest  of  true 
report  that  the  French  credit  was  at  one  time 
endangered  by  the  way  the  treasury,  or  the 
military  authorities,  handled  the  government 
credit  in  payment  for  war-supplies. 

Instead  of  going  to  the  bankers  and  making 
its  financial  arrangements,  paying  the  war- 
supply  contractors,  the  French  government 
made  many  contracts  under  which  it  paid  con- 
tractors, and  purveyors,  with  the  5  per  cent 
national-defense  notes  of  the  government,  run- 
ning three,  six,  nine,  and  twelve  months. 

As  the  contractors  were  making  15  per  cent 
and  20  per  cent  on  their  mercantile  overturn, 
they  could  afford  to  discount  5  per  cent  and 
more  in  the  sale  of  the  government  notes,  and 
while  the  government  was  passing  out  these 
notes  at  par  to  the  patriotic  subscribers,  the  con- 
tractors were  negotiating  liberal  discounts  to 
bankers  and  others. 

Nevertheless,  the  stupendous  fact  remains 
that  France,  caught  in  a  European  war  most  un- 
aware, with  impaired  budget  and  a  floating  in- 
debtedness, has  carried  the  greatest  war  of  her 
history  for   six   months  without   a  long-term 


THE   NATIONAL  DEFENSE  LOANS     73 

national  loan  and  by  the  issue  of  less  than 
$200,000,000  5  per  cent  short-term  notes  for  not 
exceeding  one  year,  and  credits  for  less  than 
$800,000,000  from  the  Bank  of  France;  has 
maintained  her  gold  basis  unimpaired;  and  has 
kept  the  international  exchanges  steadily  in  her 
favor;  and  all  this  without  any  special  financial 
legislation. 

Nor  could  I  find  any  evidence  of  a  French  dis- 
position to  sell  the  American  copper  shares, 
railroad  bonds,  or  industrial  shares  into  which 
the  French  have  been  putting  some  money  of 
late  years.  But  I  did  learn  that  short-term 
American  railroad  notes  may  this  year  be  re- 
newed abroad  only  in  part. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  BELGIAN   SACRIFICE 

No  Migration  from  Belgium  —  Germany's  War  Tax  Levies  — 
Irreconcilable  —  The  Army  —  No  Neutrality  over  Belgium. 

Before  Germany  launched  her  thunderbolts  of 
war,  Belgium  had  an  industrious,  frugal,  hard- 
working, saving  population  of  nearly  8,000,000 
people.  Of  these,  450,000  are  now  refugees  in 
Holland,  where  the  magnanimous  Dutch  are 
providing  for  them  with  no  outside  assistance. 
Queen  Wilhelmina  declares,  "These  are  our 
guests  and  we  will  care  for  them."  Nearly 
30,000  Belgian  troops  have  also  been  interned  in 
Holland.  It  was  expected  that  they  might  leak 
out,  but  the  Dutch  are  stern  in  their  present 
position  of  neutrality.  They  understand  their 
very  existence  depends  upon  it.  Some  of  the 
interned  warriors  attempted  to  escape,  and  six 
were  shot  by  the  Dutch.  Nor  will  they  permit 
contraband  articles  of  war  to  go  through  their 
country,  ^^^lile  the  Dutch  may  sell  their  own 
supplies  as  they  please,  all  imports  of  rubber, 
copper,  or  petroleum  must  be  accounted  for,  and 
their  reexport  to  Germany  is  forbidden. 


NO  MIGRATION   FROM  BELGIUM     75 

Germany  also  holds  30,000  Belgian  soldiers  as 
prisoners.  England  took  18,000  severely  wounded 
Belgian  soldiers  into  her  hospitals,  and  80,000 
refugees  are  being  there  cared  for  largely  by  pri- 
vate enterprise.  The  losses  by  the  war  are  diffi- 
cult of  estimation.  But  at  the  present  time  there 
are  7,000,000  people  in  Belgium,  most  of  whom 
must  be  fed  by  the  outside  world. 

Belgium  is  the  one  nation  from  which  the  peo- 
ple have  never  migrated.  Beyond  war  there  is 
only  one  power  that  can  move  the  Belgians 
from  their  soil,  and  that  is  the  influence  of  the 
Church. 

Representatives  of  American  railroad  and  in- 
dustrial interests  are  in  Europe  endeavoring  to 
induce  emigration  from  Belgium  to  the  United 
States,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  these  efforts  will  meet 
with  any  success.  There  are  in  the  United  States 
to-day  only  two  Belgian  settlements,  one  of 
about  1000  people  in  Montana  and  one  of  about 
1500  in  western  New  York.  The  Belgian  loves 
his  land  and  sits  by  his  home  though  it  be  in 
ruins.  The  history  of  the  land  of  the  Belgians 
shows  that,  as  the  cockpit  of  Europe,  it  was  the 
battle-ground  of  centuries;  yet  her  people  are 
more  immobile  than  those  of  any  other  country 
in  Europe.    Earthquakes  do  not  make  sunny 


76  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Italy  or  golden  California  less  attractive  to  their 
inhabitants. 

About  $20,000,000  (more  than  10  per  cent  of 
this  came  from  Belgian  people)  has  been  raised 
to  feed  starving  Belgians,  and  $20,000,000  more 
should  be  forthcoming. 

The  English  war  office  objected  at  first  to  the 
American  proposals  for  food  supplies  to  the  little 
country.  It  was  held  to  be  the  duty  of  the  in- 
vading Germans  to  feed  the  population  of  the 
conquered  country,  as  the  Germans  had  appro- 
priated large  stores  of  supplies  that  were  in 
Belgium,  notably  at  Antwerp. 

England  finally  assented  to  the  proposal,  as 
well  she  might,  for  Belgium  would  starve  with- 
out food  from  the  outside,  irrespective  of  war 
losses.  In  normal  times,  she  imports  240,000  tons 
of  food  every  month.  She  also  imports  most  of 
her  raw  supplies  for  manufacturing.  Belgium  is, 
therefore,  to-day  without  food,  or  raw  materials 
for  her  industries,  and  probably  without  outlet 
had  her  industries  the  ability  to  produce.  Al- 
though about  fifty  ships  are  bringing  food  to  Bel- 
gium, they  are  of  small  capacity  and  in  the  aggre- 
gate represent  less  than  one  month's  supply.  In 
the  early  part  of  December  about  80,000  tons  of 
food  were  going  through  the  American  commit- 


GERMANY'S   WAR  TAX  LEVIES        77 

tee  by  permission  of  Germany  and  England. 
The  people  have  been  put  on  one-third  rations. 
Every  inhabitant  of  Belgium  is  allowed  a  pint 
of  soup  a  day  and  about  as  much  coarse  brown 
bread  as  would  make  one  American  loaf. 

The  German  idea  of  responsibility  and  power 
is  that  of  force.  They  have  ordered  the  people 
of  Belgium  to  love  them,  cooperate  with  them, 
and  go  about  their  business.  But  the  Belgians 
refuse  to  love  the  Germans,  refuse  to  cooperate 
with  them  and  will  not  resume  their  work  for 
the  Germans  to  appropriate  the  results.  The 
people  of  Antwerp  were  invited  to  come  back 
from  Holland  and  it  was  proclaimed  that  there 
would  be  no  indemnity  levied,  yet  a  huge  one 
came  down  upon  the  city.  The  Germans  levied 
a  war  tax  of  50,000,000  francs  on  Brussels,  and 
Rothschild  and  Solvay  are  not  permitted  to 
leave  the  city. 

Payment  on  the  tax  was  agreed  to,  and  then 
the  Germans  demanded  500,000,000  francs  from 
the  entire  province  of  Brabant,  which  includes 
Louvain  as  well  as  Brussels.  The  inhabitants 
said  it  was  impossible  and  the  demand  was  re- 
duced to  375,000,000  francs.  The  inference 
must  be  that  the  latter  le\^  covers  a  term  of 
years. 


78  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

The  Germans  are  provoked  that  the  bank 
money  got  out  of  Belgium.  The  Bank  of  Bel- 
gium sent  its  gold  reserve  to  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, 600,000,000  francs,  and  Germany  de- 
manded that  this  reserve  be  transferred  from 
England  to  a  neutral  country;  but,  of  course, 
England  refused.  There  are  some  banks  still 
doing  business  in  Belgium,  but  the  Belgians  re- 
ject the  German  money  except  when  obliged  to 
take  it. 

The  Belgian  stores  remain  closed  for  the  ma- 
jor part,  and  the  Germans  threaten  that  unless 
the  Belgians  reopen  and  proceed  with  business 
they  will  confiscate  the  stores  and  sell  them  to 
Germans  who  will  do  business.  The  people  of 
Antwerp  must  be  in  bed  by  9  o'clock.  The  peo- 
ple of  Liege  are  ordered  to  retire  at  7  p.m.  No 
Belgian  is  permitted  the  use  of  a  telephone,  the 
entire  system  having  been  appropriated  by  the 
military  authorities. 

The  Germans  have  decreed  German  time, 
which  is  one  hour  different  from  that  of  Lon- 
don, but  the  Belgian  people  refuse  to  set  over 
their  watches  and  clocks.  The  Belgian  railroad 
system  is  different  from  that  of  the  Germans,  — 
left-handed  tracks  and  a  different  system  of  sig- 
nalling.  The  Belgians  refuse  to  do  the  bidding 


THE   ARMY  79 

of  the  Germans  and  operate  the  railroads.   The 
Germans  must  move  the  trains  themselves. 

The  Germans  do  not  hate  the  Belgians.  They 
simply  pity  them,  that  they  were  so  shortsighted 
as  not  to  accept  German  gold  for  right  of  pas- 
sage through  the  country.  The  German  hate  is 
reserved  entirely  for  the  English  above  all  peo- 
ple on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  In  Belgium  200 
marks  reward  is  offered  for  the  capture  of  any 
Enghshman  found  in  that  domain. 

The  latest  response  to  Bernhardi's  book,  "Eng- 
land the  Vassal  of  Germany,"  is  Kipling's 
poem  in  the  King  Albert  book  issued  December 
16  to  augment  the  Belgian  Relief  Fund.  I  clip 
two  verses:  — 

They  traded  with  the  careless  earth. 

And  good  return  it  gave; 
They  plotted  by  their  neighbor's  hearth 

The  means  to  make  him  slave. 

When  all  was  readied  to  their  hand 

They  loosed  their  hidden  sword 
And  utterly  laid  waste  a  land 

Their  oath  was  pledged  to  guard. 

After  the  German  Kaiser  sounded  the  battle 
sentiment  of  Europe  by  sending  the  warship 
"Panther"  to  Agadir  three  years  ago  in  viola- 
tion of  the  treaty  of  Algeciras,  it  was  intimated 


80  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

by  the  French  and  the  English  that  Belgian  neu- 
trality might  be  in  danger;  also  that  the  Lord 
and  the  Allies  helped  those  who  help  themselves. 

Therefore,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  Belgium's 
capital  providing  for  the  raising  of  an  army  of 
600,000  men  where  before  were  46,000  and  a  war 
footing  of  147,000.  The  leader  of  the  Catholic 
party  opposed  the  programme,  declaring  that 
Belgian  neutrality  was  guaranteed  by  Germany, 
France,  and  England.  A  compromise  was  ef- 
fected by  which  an  army  of  less  than  half  this 
number  was  authorized. 

MTien  on  Sunday  evening,  August  3,  at  7  p.m., 
the  German  ultimatum  was  handed  to  Belgium, 
she  was  given  five  hours  or  until  midnight  to  de- 
clare whether  or  not  the  country  would  be  sur- 
rendered to  the  free  passage  of  the  German  war 
battalions.  Belgium  had  then  an  army  of  200,- 
000  men;  60,000  volunteers  sprang  to  arms,  and 
that  260,000  was  the  maximum  Belgian  army 
that  attempted  to  withstand  the  millions  of 
Germany's  armed  forces.  Even  these  were  not 
effectively  placed.  The  30,000  men  at  the  fron- 
tier were  not  suJBScient  to  permit  of  any  effective 
sorties  to  protect  the  approaches  to  the  Liege 
fortifications.  It  was  a  forlorn  hope  from  a  mili- 
tary standpoint,  but  for  three  weeks  the  Bel- 


THE  ARMY  81 

gians  with  shrinking  forces  held  in  check  the 
war  power  of  Germany.  Every  week  help  was 
expected  from  the  Allies,  but  no  help  came,  for 
no  country  in  Europe  outside  of  Germany  and 
Austria  had  any  expectation  of  war. 

Down  to  the  ground  and  their  graves  fought 
the  plucky  little  Belgians,  until  they  numbered, 
not  260,000,  but  nearer  60,000.  After  every  able- 
bodied  man  in  Belgium  was  demanded  by  King 
Albert,  the  ranks  of  the  Belgians  began  to  swell, 
and,  with  able-bodied  refugees  returned  from 
England,  there  are  now  about  120,000  men  in 
the  ten  divisions  of  the  Belgian  army. 

But  England  carries,  as  she  ought,  the  finan- 
cial burden.  She  feeds,  clothes,  and  equips  the 
Belgians  and  furnishes  the  money-supply.  The 
Germans  still  strive,  not  so  much  against  the 
Allies  as  against  the  English  in  Belgium.  Here 
the  fighting  is  fiercest,  casualties  are  greatest, 
and  here  the  reinforcements  on  both  sides  are 
the  greatest  per  mile  of  line. 

Meanwhile  the  more  than  a  million  Germans 
in  Belgium  have  trenched  across  the  whole  coun- 
try, rebuilt  the  forts  at  Namur,  Liege,  Antwerp, 
and  other  places,  and  are  digging  themselves 
into  the  ground  doggedly  and  determinedly,  and 
with  as  great  precision  and  more  science  than 


82  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

the  Allies.  The  German  trenches  are  rather  bet- 
ter made  and  the  machinery  for  trenching  has 
been,  of  course,  better  prepared  by  the  Germans. 

The  great  surprise  of  the  war  was  the  demon- 
stration in  Belgium  that  forts  costing  millions, 
in  defense  of  cities,  are  absolutely  useless  against 
the  big  German  shells.  The  defense  at  Liege  was 
prolonged  because  the  Germans  could  not  at 
first  find  the  exact  location  of  the  central  de- 
fense. Finally  a  German  approached  bearing  a 
large  white  flag  of  truce.  Belgian  orders  were 
given  to  receive  him.  The  German,  under  his 
flag  of  truce,  signalled  the  desired  information 
and  then  fell.  Soon  after,  fell  the  fort.  The 
Germans  had  found  the  desired  range,  and  shot. 
At  Antwerp  a  single  shell  was  able  to  put  an 
entire  fortress  out  of  business. 

It  is  the  Landwelu*  and  the  older  men  that 
have  been  called  by  Germany  to  do  duty  in 
Belgium,  while  the  younger  troops  are  sent  back 
and  forth  between  the  eastern  and  western  fron- 
tier defences. 

An  American  who  has  lately  been  all  through 
Belgium,  representing  both  commercial  inter- 
ests and  charity  work,  tells  me :  — 

"  I  left  America  absolutely  neutral.  I  was  not 
a  student  of  the  war  or  of  the  cause  of  the  war. 


NO  NEUTRALITY  OVER  BELGIUM    83 

What  I  saw  in  Belgium  convinced  me  that  the 
AlHes  must  win  and  will  win.  I  am  no  longer 
neutral.  What  I  saw  in  Belgium  of  the  wanton 
destruction  of  villages,  towns,  and  cities  has 
prejudiced  me  as  no  argument  could  have  done. 
The  Allies'  losses  will  begin  when  they  take  the 
offensive  against  the  German  works  which  are 
now  being  constructed.  Soon  England  will  have 
500,000  more  men  on  the  Continent  and  there 
will  be  more  doing. 

"  The  losses  of  the  Germans  have  been  two  or 
three  times  the  losses  of  the  Allies  in  the  Belgian 
trenches,  because  the  Germans  have  been  the 
attacking  parties.  If  the  Allies  become  the  at- 
tacking parties  they  will  have  to  sustain  the 
heavy  losses.  But  I  cannot  see  it  otherwise  than 
that  the  Allies  must  win.  The  crime  against 
Belgium  is  the  greatest  crime  since  Calvary,  and 
it  has  set  the  whole  world  against  Germany. 

"It  is  not  only  a  crime,  but  it  was  a  military 
error,  for  to-day  Germany  has  600  miles  of  front 
to  defend,  300  east  and  300  west,  and  her  losses 
have  been  enormous.  At  Liege  7000  Germans 
went  down  in  a  single  day's  fighting.  One  man 
I  met  assisted  to  bury  500  Germans  in  front  of 
a  single  trench. 

"I  do  not  believe  Brussels  is  mined;  but  if 


84  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

ever  the  Germans  got  into  Paris  they  would 
destroy  the  whole  city  before  they  left. 

**I  shudder  to  think  what  the  Germans  will 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  Belgians  when  once 
the  rout  of  the  Germans  has  been  begun  by  the 
Allies.  The  Belgians  are  unreconciled,  and  if 
they  ever  get  weapons  in  their  hands  —  well,  I 
will  not  predict,  I  will  just  tell  you  one  fact:  I 
traveled  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  saw 
the  women  and  the  children  sitting  by  their 
ruined  hearthstones,  but  I  never  saw  a  tear  on 
the  cheek  of  a  Belgian." 


CHAPTER  IX 

RUSSIA   AND   THE   RUSSIANS 

Russian  Reforms  —  A  United  Russia  —  Russian  Armaments  — 
The  Greatest  Future  —  Two  Water  Outlets  —  The  Slav  Inva- 
sion Bugaboo. 

Russia  also  is  likely  to  bring  forth  some  notable 
men  who  have  not  previously  been  heard  of  be- 
fore the  world.  General  Evanoff  is  the  idol  of 
the  Russian  army.  He  is  the  strategist  who 
plans  the  movements  against  Austria  and  Ger- 
many in  the  East,  who  surrounds  Przemysl  and 
says,  "Now,  we  can  take  it  when  we  please,  but 
we  will  not  sacrifice  Russian  troops  to  take  it 
now;  Cracow  is  more  important.  Lodz  is  not 
important  from  a  military  standpoint.  We  will 
surround  it  later." 

Evanoff  orders  his  men  to  keep  out  of  the  val- 
leys and  engage  the  Germans  in  the  open  plain, 
where  their  own  numbers  will  count  in  action; 
for  in  the  valleys  the  German  big  guns  have 
the  advantage. 

Russia  has  been  at  work  steadily  since  the 
Japanese  war  reforming  her  army  within  and 
without.    More  than  one  third  of  her  officers 


86  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

were  dismissed  after  that '  war.  The  Russian 
ojQficials  now  say  that  the  Japanese  war  was  to 
Russia  most  providential.  It  showed  the  lines 
of  Russian  weakness,  inefficiency,  and  graft, 
which  could  flourish  at  a  distance  from  St. 
Petersburg  but  became  exposed  when  war  put 
the  Russian  organization  to  the  test.  Steadily 
every  year  Russia  has  been  systematically  and 
thoroughly  routing  out  graft  and  inefficiency. 
When  Russia  starts  to  do  a  thing  she  does  it 
thoroughly. 

It  was  because  Russia  was  rebuilding,  reor- 
ganizing, and  was  indulging  in  criticism  and 
putting  its  mind  on  the  weak  spots,  that  Russian 
confidential  papers  stolen  in  the  interest  of  Ger- 
many misled  both  Berlin  and  Vienna  as  to  the 
possibility  of  Russia  going  to  war  to  defend  Ser- 
via  in  the  year  1914. 

War  has  united  Russia  as  never  before.  The 
Czar  now  moves  about  unattended,  and  the 
country  is  a  unit  behind  him  and  the  war  and 
unitedly  against  the  Germans.  From  Warsaw 
to  Siberia  the  German  agents  and  merchants 
have  been  arrested  and  impounded.  Nobody 
in  Germany  can  yet  realize  how  this  war  has 
destroyed  her  commercial  relations  and  com- 
mercial  organizations   throughout   the   world. 


RUSSIAN  ARMAMENTS  87 

Everywhere  German  people  We  subjects  of  sus- 
picion. You  will  even  hear  in  all  seriousness  that 
the  Kaiser  had  an  army  of  150,000  reservists  in 
the  United  States  with  a  partial  equipment  of 
arms  ready  to  attack  Canada;  and  I  have  been 
told  by  supply  agencies  that  these  arms  are  now 
offered  for  sale,  as  the  uselessness  of  any  Ger- 
man movement  on  the  American  continent  is 
apparent. 

How  far  Germany  is  unable  to  measure  the 
spirit  of  the  English-speaking  people  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  she  cannot  understand  why  the 
United  States  does  not  take  this  opportunity  to 
possess  Canada. 

I  heard  of  a  retired  German-American  of 
wealth,  residing  in  Germany,  who  was  actually 
invited  to  go  to  America  to  stir  up  a  raid  on 
Canada.  Of  course  he  obediently  returned  to 
the  United  States,  and  then  he  sat  down  to  won- 
der how  he  could  effectively  report  back  the 
foolishness  of  such  an  idea  without  offense  to 
Berlin. 

Russia  has  been  perfecting  her  military  organ- 
ization for  ten  years.  The  expansion  was  to 
come  in  the  next  two  years.  At  the  opening  of 
the  war  she  had  only  2,500,000  available  troops. 
For  two  years  she  has  been  building  factories  to 


88  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

manufacture  ammunition  and  arms,  and  these 
are  now  being  rushed  to  completion. 

People  who  have  offered  her  contracts  for 
arms  and  munitions  have  been  told  that  Rus- 
sian factories  shortly  to  be  completed  will  make 
their  weapons  more  quickly  than  they  can 
now  be  ordered  and  received  from  other  coun- 
tries. 

With  arms  and  equipment  Russia  can  draw 
17,000,000  men  to  her  German-Austrian  fron- 
tier just  as  readily  as  Germany  can  draw  7,000- 
000  men  to  both  her  frontiers.  In  both  calcula- 
tions only  one  in  ten  of  the  population  is  counted 
upon  for  service. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  Russian  who  was  asked 
in  London  why  he  did  not  return  for  military 
duty.  He  replied,  "Oh,  I  belong  to  the  14th 
million,  and  it  will  be  some  time  before  the  13th 
million  is  called  out." 

Russia  has  the  greatest  future  of  any  country 
in  Europe.  She  has  the  largest  unturned  arable 
soil  of  any  country  in  the  world.  Russia  in  Eu- 
rope is  a  great  agricultural  plain.  To  the  east 
are  her  rich  oil-fields  steadily  expanding  north 
in  the  Ural  Mountains,  and  east  lies  Siberia,  en- 
dowed by  nature  as  one  of  the  richest  countries 
in  the  world,  an  area  in  which  you  could  deposit 


TWO  WATER  OUTLETS  89 

the  United  States.  From  the  Siberian  railroad 
other  railroads  are  now  projected;  mineral 
wealth  is  being  uncovered;  and  English  and 
French  capital  and  American  engineers  will  in 
the  future  work  wonders  with  the  country. 
'  What  Russia  has  long  sought  is  an  outlet  to 
the  ocean.  This  war  is  likely  to  give  her  bene- 
fits which  she  could  never  have  asked  and  could 
only  have  fought  for.  Germany,  defeated,  will 
lose  the  control  or  monopoly  of  the  Kiel  Canal, 
and  possibly  the  country  around  it  which  she 
took  from  Denmark.  The  Kiel  Canal  under 
international  control  will  extend  the  Baltic  Sea 
of  the  Russians  and  the  Scandinavians  most 
directly  to  the  North  Sea  and  the  English 
Channel. 

To  the  south  Russia  will  have  something  to 
say  in  Asia  Minor  and  much  to  say  concerning 
Constantinople.  Certainly  her  influence  in  the 
Balkan  States  and  on  the  Bosphorus  will  be  as 
great  as  she  could  desire.  As  long  as  the  Turks 
remained  loyal  to  England,  Great  Britain  was 
bound  to  maintain  their  integrity  and  hold  upon 
Constantinople  and  the  Bosphorus.  With  the 
passing  of  the  Turk  Constantinople  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  Allies  when  they  are  victorious.  Its 
final  disposition  is  not  yet  clear,  but  the  English 


90  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

people  can  see  compensation  in  Egypt,  Asia 
Minor,  and  Persia  for  any  necessary  Russian 
control  of  Byzantium. 

WTiile  seeking  one  direct  outlet  by  waterway, 
Russia  may  get  two  with  the  suicide  of  Ger- 
many and  the  destruction  of  her  latest  ally,  the 
Mohammedan  Turk. 

Russia  is  beginning  to  be  better  understood 
throughout  the  British  Empire  and  the  world. 
The  fear  of  an  invasion  of  Western  Europe  by 
the  Slav  races  is  a  bugaboo  set  afloat  by  Ger- 
many, who  also  propagates  the  bugaboo  of  a 
Japanese  invasion  of  North  America. 

Russia  is  not  a  competing  nation.  She  needs 
the  capital  and  the  brains  of  the  outside  world 
for  her  development,  and  in  time  she  will  offer 
the  greatest  field  for  world  cooperation. 

Japan  wants  to  cooperate  with  Russia,  and, 
indeed,  with  all  European  civilization.  After  the 
fall  of  Kiao-Chau  she  sent  arms  to  Russia,  and 
she  stands  ready  to  throw  legions  into  the  Euro- 
pean field  in  defense  of  her  English  ally.  Influ- 
ential people  in  England  are  strongly  urging  the 
military  authorities  to  permit  the  little  Japs  to 
join  in. 

Russia  will  keep  faith  with  the  Poles  and  the 
Jews  and  set  up  an  autonomous  Poland.    But 


THE   SLAV   INVASION  BUGABOO      91 

there  is  a  strong  resentment  in  Russia  to-day 
because  the  Polish  Jews  misled  the  Russian 
army  in  the  marshy  grounds  of  East  Prussia  in 
the  early  campaigns  of  the  war. 

Russian  military  plans  had  to  be  changed 
and  the  field  of  war  set  farther  south.  Here  Rus- 
sia hopes  to  drive  the  five  million  people  of 
Silesia  back  toward  Berlin.  This  will  awaken  the 
Junkers  of  East  Prussia  and  bring  home  to  the 
people  of  Germany  what  the  Prussian  military 
machine  really  invites  when  it  attempts  a  world- 
conquest. 

Russia  lacks  military  railroads  and  scientific 
means  of  communication.  But  just  as  America 
was  surprised  ten  years  ago  to  find  the  Japs,  as 
the  ally  of  England,  giving,  as  the  English  pre- 
dicted, "  a  good  account  of  themselves,"  so  the 
Russians  as  the  allies  of  Great  Britain  may  be 
found  giving  a  very  good  account  of  themselves 
in  this  war.  Russia  is  certainly  unconquerable 
from  either  the  Austrian  or  the  German  stand- 
point, and  the  smashing  of  Austria  between 
Russia,  Roumania,  Servia,  and  Italy  may  be  the 
real  military  campaign  of  this  most  Audacious 
War. 

American  engineers  and  diplomats  familiar 
with  Russia  declare  that,  properly  led,  the  Rus- 


92  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

sian  soldier  is  the  greatest  fighter  in  the  world; 
and  he  is  getting  that  leadership  now. 

The  Russians  expect  the  war  will  be  over  be- 
fore next  autumn,  but  Kitchener  does  not  plan 
to  end  it  then.  He  means  to  do  this  job  thor- 
oughly, and  his  plans  are  most  comprehensive. ' 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  ENGLISH   POSITION 

A  Quiet  London  —  The  Call  to  Arms  —  No  Mourning  —  The 
Zeppelin  Scare  —  German  Spies  —  The  German  Landing  — 
Kultur  War  Indemnities. 

It  is  worth  a  winter  trip  across  the  Atlantic  to 
stand  with  a  London  audience  and  hear  it  re- 
spond to  the  call,  "Are  we  downhearted?"  with 
a  thunderous  "NO!" 

It  is  then  you  first  realize  that  the  British 
Empire  is  at  war;  and  what  that  war  means;  and 
that  that  Empire  has  piped  to  its  defense  a  free 
people  inhabiting  one  fifth  of  the  territory  of  the 
globe. 

The  British  Empire  has  war  upon  its  hands  a 
major  part  of  the  time.  It  may  be  in  the  Soudan; 
it  may  be  in  South  Africa.  From  some  quarter 
of  the  globe  war  is  almost  always  before  the 
Empire.  But  a  war  summoning  the  whole  Brit- 
ish Empire  to  arms  on  land  and  sea,  —  that  has 
not  been  dreamed  of  for  a  hundred  years. 

You  expect  to  find  in  London  an  armed  camp, 
the  flags  flying,  the  drums  beating,  the  troops 
marching;  an  excited  people  discussing  causes  and 


94  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

effects  of  the  military  and  naval  programmes; 
military  encampments  with  white  tents  over  the 
plains.  But  you  find  nothing  of  the  sort.  If  you 
attempt  to  motor  in  the  country  and  figure  on 
reaching  a  certain  place  in  two  hours,  you  may 
find  it  takes  you  four,  as  you  are  very  likely 
to  run  into  troops,  companies,  regiments,  and 
armies  in  training,  but  mostly  without  arms  and 
only  partially  uniformed.  They  are  trudging  the 
highways  and  the  lanes  of  England  from  5.30 
A.M.  until  dusk,  —  rain  or  shine.  Here  is  Kitch- 
ener's army  being  put  into  condition,  with  no 
fuss,  feathers,  or  trumpet  beats.  The  army  is 
"rolling  up"  and  "hardening  up."  But  not  on 
the  tented  campus.  It  is  quartered  in  the  towns 
and  villages  all  over  England,  and  board  and 
lodging  is  regularly  paid  by  the  government. 

There  are  no  noticeable  drum  beats  over  Eng- 
land; no  displays  of  bunting.  Monuments,  pub- 
lic buildings,  and  conspicuous  corners,  and,  most 
conspicuous  of  all,  the  glass  fronts  of  the  taxi- 
cabs,  bear  signs  calling  the  men  of  England  to 
arms :  — 

"Fall  in  —  Join  the  Army  at  once." 
"Your  King  and  Country  need  you.  England 
expects  that  every  man  this  day  will  do  his 
duty." 


THE   CALL  TO   ARMS  95 

"Enlist  for  the  duration  of  the  War." 

"Enlist  for  three  years." 

"You  are  needed  to  fight  for  Honor  and  the 
Country's  defense." 

"No  price  can  be  too  high  when  Honor  and 
Freedom  are  at  stake." 

"Who  dies  if  England  lives?" 

"He  gives  twice  who  gives  quickly  —  join  at 
once." 

"'More  men  and  still  more  until  the  enemy  is 
crushed.'  —  Lord  Kitchener." 

And  many  more  of  the  same  tenor.  Beyond 
these  you  will  see  little  evidence  in  the  London 
streets  of  an  empire  at  war.  Hotels  are  largely 
empty;  managers  very  polite;  restaurants  must 
close  at  10.  p.m.  ;  no  after-theater  supper  at  the 
hotels  unless  you  are  a  guest.  Men  in  khaki 
uniforms  are  more  conspicuous;  and  bandaged 
heads,  slung  arms,  and  legs  assisted  by  crutches 
are  more  noticeable  than  formerly. 

The  searchlights  flash  above  the  city;  the 
street  lights  are  shaded  overhead  in  foolish  fancy 
as  a  protection  from  aeroplanes  or  dirigibles. 
Curtains  are  closely  drawn  by  police  orders,  in 
the  houses  and  railway  trains. 

Yet  one  of  the  airmen  who  had  been  over 
London  at  night  told  me  that  the  city  was  just 


96  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

as  conspicuous  as  though  it  were  wide  open  ih 
illumination.  Indeed,  there  is  a  general  call 
among  the  Londoners  for  the  police  to  let  up  and 
permit  electric  signs,  lighted  windows,  and  more 
light  in  the  streets.  But  the  only  answer  that 
came  early  in  December  was  orders  to  turn  down 
the  lights  further! 

In  Paris  they  turned  on  the  lights,  illuminated 
the  streets,  closed  up  the  museums  and  galleries, 
buried  their  art  and  sent  the  Venus  de  Milo  on  a 
walk  to  some  storage  vault  along  with  the  banks' 
reserve  gold.  London's  museums  and  picture 
galleries  are  wide  open,  and  the  endeavor  to 
protect  the  streets  from  Germans  peering  down 
from  above  looks  childish.  The  great  strategy 
of  the  Germans  consists  of  talking  across  the 
Channel  about  their  plans  for  raiding  England. 
I  suspect  that  the  English  military  authorities 
do  not  object.  It  encourages  enlistment.  WTien 
enlistment  gets  dull,  the  Germans  stimulate  it 
with  some  shells  thrown  on  the  English  coast. 

There  are  only  two  or  three  new  plays  in  Lon- 
don this  season;  the  great  war-plays  and  dramas, 
and  indeed  the  literature  of  this  war,  have  yet 
to  be  written.  Nearly  all  the  new  presentations 
for  which  London  is  so  famous  were  set  back 
on  the  shelf  when  the  business  of  war  started. 


NO  MOURNING  97 

Most  of  the  theater  programs  are  revivals  of  old 
favorites,  and  a  few  of  the  theaters  are  still  closed. 
All  that  are  open  begin  promptly  at  8  p.m.  Five 
hundred  English  actors  have  gone  to  the  front. 

You  have  to  make  the  circuit  to  find  the  heart 
of  England  at  war,  but  you  find  it  —  horse,  foot, 
and  dragoons;  men,  women,  and  children.  "  Are 
we  downhearted.?"  answered  by  a  thunderous 
"  No ! "  Then  again  silence,  and  turning  down  of 
the  lights,  and  the  steady  work!  work!  work! 

"  Have  you  a  bed  here?  "  said  Kitchener  when 
he  entered  the  War  Office.  "  Never  heard  of  such 
a  thing  here,"  was  the  response. 
^'  "  Get  one,"  said  Eatchener;  "  I  have  no  time 
for  clubs  and  hotels." 

Not  only  Kitchener  but  the  whole  staff 
camped  down  in  the  office,  working  days,  nights, 

and  Sundays,  until  Lady turned  over  her 

house  nearby  to  Kitchener  and  his  staff. 

"Where  is  ?"  I  asked  of  his  next-door 

neighbor.  The  response  was,  "  Oh,  he  is  at  the 
War  Office,  and  gets  a  Sunday  home  with  his 
family  about  once  in  six  weeks."  That  family 
was  not  fifteen  miles  from  London. 

When  a  citizen  has  been  suddenly  notified 
that  where  he  could  formerly  get  a  train  for 
home  every  fifteen  minutes,  the  railroad  has  been 


d8  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

taken  for  military  service,  and  he  must  get  his 
supper  in  town,  there  is  not  the  sHghtest  word  of 
complaint.  He  only  wishes  he  could  contribute 
more  to  the  Empire. 

I  spoke  with  Lord  K.,  of  B &  Co.,  con- 
cerning the  loss  of  his  eldest  son,  as  I  had  known 
Lord  K.  for  many  years.  The  manner,  the  ges- 
ture, the  speech,  in  response,  were  all  one,  and 
brief;  just  an  indication  of  sacrifice  that  had  to 
be  made  for  the  Empire;  and  that  sacrifice  had 
only  just  begun;  deaths  in  the  family  just  hon- 
orable incidents  in  the  life  of  the  Empire. 

You  see  crutches  and  broken  heads  in  London, 
but  you  w^ill  see  no  mourning. 

"Yes,"  said  Lord  C.  to  me,  "the  average  in- 
come tax  in  England  is  now  doubled  until  it 
is  one  eighth,  or  about  12|  per  cent,  but  my 
friends  in  the  banking  world  have  to  pay  an  in- 
creasing supertax.  I  know  many  who  must  now 
give  one  quarter  of  their  income  to  the  govern- 
ment. They  not  only  do  it  gladly,  but  expect  it 
will  be  a  half  next  year,  and  they  will  contribute 
that  just  as  gladly." 

From  the  top  to  the  bottom  in  the  Empire,  all 
that  is  asked  at  the  present  time  is  a  protected 
food  and  clothing  supply,  and  everything  else 
can  go  into  "  the  cauldron  of  war." 


THE  ZEPPELIN   SCARE  99 

"  Did  you  ever  see  anything  like  it?  "  said  an 
American  banker  in  London  to  me.  "  Are  n't 
these  people  wonderful?  Did  you  ever  see  such 
resolution,  such  steady  work,  such  sacrifices, 
such  unity  of  empire?" 

It  was  indeed  worth  a  winter's  trip  across  the 
ocean  to  see  it. 

Although  the  newspapers  complained  of  the 
censorship,  there  was  only  one  general  complaint 
from  the  people  in  the  British  press.  They 
wanted  to  know  what  the  regulations  were,  or 
were  to  be,  concerning  self-defense  when  the 
Germans  arrive  in  the  country.  Should  a  citi- 
zen without  uniform  take  up  arms  against  the 
invaders?  Had  he  a  right  individually  to  shoot 
a  German  invader?  Was  the  old  rule  that  an 
Englishman's  home  is  his  castle,  and  that  he  has 
the  right  to  defend  it,  now  superseded  by  any 
rules  of  international  warfare? 

Some  independent  people  of  note  were  declaim- 
ing in  the  public  prints  that  any  German  in- 
vader of  England  was  a  thief  and  a  robber  and 
that  any  weapons  might  be  used  to  attack  the 
invaders;  and  that  there  was  no  rule  of  warfare 
that  could  prevent  an  Englishman  defending  his 
home  by  any  weapons  against  any  foreign  in- 
vaders. 


100  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Nevertheless  the  spirit  of  the  people  was,  even 
under  invasion,  to  respect  law  and  order  and 
rules  of  warfare,  and  be  guided  by  the  govern- 
ment as  to  all  forms  of  individual  or  collective 
defenses.  They  simply  wanted  the  rules  pro- 
mulgated. 

The  English  are  reconciled  to  Zeppelin  raids 
from  Germany,  and  rather  expect  them.  But 
there  is  yet  no  unanimity  in  preparation  or 
action.  The  Rothschilds  have  put  four  feet 
of  sand  on  the  roof  of  their  building,  but  the 
amount  of  their  gold  in  store  must  be  incom- 
parably less  than  that  in  the  Bank  of  England, 
where  no  precautions  are  visible. 

Trenches  by  the  beaches  and  barricades  by  the 
highways  are  noticeable  along  the  entire  south 
and  east  coasts  of  England,  but  they  are  with- 
out stores  or  equipment.  You  run  across  these 
trenches  in  the  moonlight  as  you  journey  about 
the  country  and  for  the  moment  you  wonder  for 
what  purpose  somebody  dug  those  long  ditches 
by  the  shore,  and  what  the  trench  or  irrigation 
scheme  is.  Your  answer  comes  when  you  run 
straight  into  a  timber  barricade  across  the  high- 
way nearby.  Then  you  look  down  the  coast  and 
see  flashing  searchlights,  note  the  lights  of 
steamers  passing  up  and  down  the  coast,  and 


GERMAN  SPIES  loi 

reflect  that  there  is  no  universal  law  in  war. 
The  Channel  steamers  are  carrying  lights  in  the 
war  area,  but  the  North  Atlantic  steamers  still 
cross  the  ocean  without  showing  even  port  or 
starboard  lights.  The  street  cars  moving  in  the 
English  coast  cities  must,  of  course,  be  lighted 
and  the  streets  must  have  some  illuminant;  but 
the  railroad  carriages,  hotels,  and  private  houses 
must  draw  their  curtains.  Yet  railroad  terminals 
and  piers  must  have  their  lights,  and  harbors  must 
have  their  searchlights.     General  service  lights 
must  be  ablaze,    but  individual  glimmers  must 
be  curtained.    It  reminds  one  of  Cowper,  the 
English  poet,  who,  in  the  same  kennel,  cut  a  big 
hole  for  his  big  dog  and  a  little  hole  for  the  pup. 
The  most  talked-of  war  subject  in  England 
is  the  German  spy  system.  It  is  estimated  there 
were  between  30,000  and  40,000  German  spies, 
and  many  times  this  number  of  German  reserv- 
ists, in  England  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  For 
years  England  has  laughed  over  German  theo- 
retical discussions  of  how  best  to  invade  England, 
and  German  studies  of  English  coast  lines  and 
country  resources. 

I  heard  years  ago  of  a  young  Englishman  who 
disputed  in  Berlin  the  war-office  plans  of  his 
father's  estate.      He  declared  that  he  thought 


102  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

he  ought  to  know  the  land  where  he  was  born 
and  brought  up  as  a  boy,  and  that  there  were 
only  two  springs  of  water  thereon,  instead  of 
three.  The  German  general  staff  said  their  maps 
of  England  were  correct  and  were  not  based  on 
English  authority.  The  young  man  found  on  his 
return  to  England  that  the  German  maps  were 
correct  and  that  his  father's  estate  had  three 
springs  whence  men  and  horses  could  be  wa- 
tered, although  his  family  had  never  noted  the 
existence  of  a  third. 

Two  years  ago  some  friends  of  mine  were  play- 
ing tennis  in  an  English  village  and  inquired  the 
occupation  of  two  young  Germans,  who  seemed 
to  be  good  tennis-players,  but  without  family 
relations  or  settled  business. 

The  response  of  the  hostess  was :  "  Oh,  they 
are  just  two  German  spies  of  good  education  and 
charming  manner  looking  over  the  country  here, 
and  we  find  them  very  useful  in  making  up  our 
tennis  tournaments."  It  was  looked  upon  as  just 
a  part  of  the  German  map-making  plans,  and 
England  was  an  open  book  for  anybody  to  map. 
Baedeker  published  the  guide-books  of  the  world : 
why  should  n't  the  Germans  make  all  the  maps 
of  the  world,  —  especially  if  German  map-mak- 
ing were  cheaper  than  English  map-making? 


THE  GERMAN  LANDING  103 

A  banker  friend  of  mine  found  two  young 
Germans  in  his  village,  with  no  other  occupation 
than  motoring  the  country  over  and  making 
notes  and  sketches  of  cross-roads,  railroad  junc- 
tion-points, important  buildings,  bridges,  etc. 
He  thought  the  authorities  ought  to  know  what 
was  going  on,  but  received  a  polite  invitation 
from  the  local  police  to  mind  his  own  business. 
When  once  he  lost  his  way  on  a  motor-car  trip, 
and  ran  across  these  fellows,  he  was  very  glad 
to  get  the  right  directions  for  the  shortest  way 
home.  They  knew  more  about  the  roads  of  that 
country  than  did  the  people  who  were  born 
there. 

About  20,000  German  spies  and  reservists  are 
in  detention  camps  on  the  west  coast,  and  on 
the  islands.  Even  the  German  prisoners  are 
kept  away  from  the  east  coast,  where  it  is  ex- 
pected the  Germans  may  eventually  struggle 
for  their  landing. 

I  have  not  the  slightest  confidence  in  any 
invasion  of  England  by  Germany,  but  I  do  not 
understand  why  German  Zeppelins  do  not  move 
in  the  darkness  over  the  British  Isles  and  drop 
a  few  bombs  about  the  country  at  important 
places.  It  may  be  that  the  German  Emperor  is 
right  in  his  calculation  that  such  action  would 


104  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

do  very  little  damage,  and  would  strengthen 
tremendously  the  enlistments  and  war-expan- 
sion plans  of  the  English. 

When  West  Hartlepool,  Whitby,  and  Scarbo- 
rough were  bombarded  by  the  German  warships 
on  the  morning  of  December  IG,  the  English 
excitement  concerning  it  was  only  a  small  part 
of  what  an  American  would  have  expected. 
Not  far  from  this  bombarded  coast  is  a  summer 
resort  town,  where  for  many  years  a  legend  has 
existed  that  when  in  some  future  age  England 
decayed  and  Germany  came  in,  this  would  be 
the  first  landing-point. 

An  Englishman  two  or  three  years  ago  took 
it  upon  himself  to  find  out  how  far  this  legend 
might  have  its  base  in  any  near  invasion.  He 
looked  up  the  record  and  found  that  all  the  lead- 
ing summer  hotels  and  strategic  points  were  in 
the  hands  of  Germans.  Then  one  day  he  quickly 
addressed  his  German  waiter  in  his  native 
tongue,  demanding  to  know  where  his  post  was 
in  that  town  in  the  event  of  hostilities.  Prompt- 
ly the  German  replied,  "  Down  at  the  school- 
house!"  Further  investigation  showed  that 
every  reservist  had  his  allotted  place  before  and 
after  the  landing,  and  his  place  in  the  civic 
organization  to  follow.  The  Germans  had  also 


THE  GERMAN  LANDING  105 

compiled  lists  of  the  people  of  property  in  that 
vicinity  and  exactly  the  character  and  amount  of 
resources  that  could  be  commandeered  from  them. 

If  the  Germans  were  free  to  map  England, 
why  should  they  not  be  free  to  map  all  its  re- 
sources, individually  as  well  as  collectively? 

I  know  a  building  in  the  heart  of  the  London 
financial  district  that  carries  on  its  roof  a  Zep- 
pelin-destroyer gun.  A  few  days  before  I  was 
last  in  this  building  a  fine-looking  fellow  in  khaki 
uniform  entered  in  haste  and  asked  the  janitor 
to  show  him  to  the  roof  that  he  might  quickly 
inspect  that  gun  and  see  that  everything  was  in 
order,  as  raids  might  be  expected  at  any  mo- 
ment. Of  course,  he  was  taken  to  the  roof,  and 
his  inspection  quickly  completed.  Ten  minutes 
later  the  London  police  were  there  to  inquire  for 
a  man  in  khaki  uniform. 

The  English  officer  said,  "  Very  singular,  we 
are  ten  minutes  behind  that  fellow  everywhere. 
He  is  the  cleverest  of  all  the  German  spies,  and 
we  are  not  able  to  catch  him!" 

If  that  spy  had  been  caught  in  his  English 
uniform  inspecting  English  defenses,  would  not 
everything  have  been  kept  quiet  in  the  endeavor 
to  pick  up  the  lines  of  his  foreign  communica- 
tions? 


106  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

In  writing  home  from  England,  even  to  my 
family,  toward  the  close  of  1914,  I  thought  it 
just  as  well  to  be  brief  and  not  too  definite  with 
any  information.  I  had  seen  some  of  the  censor- 
ship regulations  and  envelopes  resealed  with  a 
paper  bearing  heavy  black  letters,^  "  Opened  by 
censor,"  with  the  number  of  the  censor,  show- 
ing that  there  are  more  than  one  hundred  people 
engaged  in  this  work;  and  also  directions  from 
the  censorship  that  "  responses  to  this  inquiry 
must  be  submitted,"  etc.,  etc. 

Nobody  could  believe  until  this  war  broke  out 
and  there  descended  upon  peaceful  Belgium  not 
only  armies  and  demands  for  their  shelter,  main- 
tenance and  food,  and  drink,  but  also  huge  de- 
mands for  financial  indemnification  —  war  tax 
levies  upon  cities,  towns,  and  provinces,  with 
individuals  held  as  hostages  for  their  payment 
—  that  German  war  plans  meant  the  looting, 
not  only  of  nations  and  states,  but  of  individual 
fortunes  and  properties. 

It  now  seems  that  the  march  to  Paris  through 
Belgium  and  the  imposition  of  a  huge  redemp- 
tion tax  upon  Paris  and  France  were  but  the 
preliminaries  to  larger  demands  upon  London 
and  England. 

Indeed,  judged  by  the  demands  upon  Bel- 


KULTUR  WAR   INDEMNITIES        107 

gium,  the  German  plans  contemplated  the  trans- 
fer of  the  wealth  of  France  and  the  British  Em- 
pire to  Germany;  and  such  enslavement  of  these 
peoples  as  would  make  Germany  rich,  powerful 
and  triumphant  for  many  generations,  if  not 
forever,  over  the  whole  habitable  globe.  The 
German  minister  at  Washington  sounded  a  true 
German  note  when  he  asked  who  should  ques- 
tion the  right  of  Germany  to  take  Canada  and 
the  British  possessions  in  North  America.  Were 
they  not  at  war,  and  if  Germany  were  able, 
should  she  not  possess  them? 

It  had  been  understood  before  this  war  that 
countries  were  invaded  under  ideas  of  national 
defense.  But  possession  of  countries  for  the  ab- 
sorption of  their  wealth  and  the  enslavement  of 
their  people,  to  work  thereafter  for  the  victors, 
was  believed  a  barbarism  from  which  this  world 
had  long  ago  emerged  in  the  struggle  for  the 
freedom  of  the  individual. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ENGLISH   WAR   FORCES 

The  Men  at  the  Front  —  The  Recruiting  —  English  Losses  — 
Horses  and   Ships  —  War  Supplies  —  Barring  the  Germans. 

I  REALLY  admire  the  English  censorship  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  can  withhold  information 
from  the  English  people,  and  I  see  the  usefulness 
of  much  of  the  withholdings.  You  are  some  days 
in  England  before  you  realize  that  there  are  now 
no  weather  reports  —  not  even  for  Channel 
crossings.  Nobody  really  cared  for  them  in 
London.  Everybody  there  knew  what  the 
weather  was,  and  nobody  could  tell  what  it  was 
to  be.  If  reports  were  printed,  they  would  fool 
only  the  German  Zeppelins;  but  cable  reports 
might  be  quite  another  thing.  So  you  can't  cable 
your  family:  "Weather  fine,  come  over." 

Of  course  Germany  should  not  be  allowed  to 
know  the  English  forces,  their  exact  number  and 
distribution.  I  was  told  over  and  over  again  in 
good  newspaper  quarters  in  London  that  the 
English  had  only  100,000  men  at  the  front,  and 
did  not  propose  to  have  any  more  until  Kitch- 


THE  MEN  AT  THE  FRONT         109 

ener  led  bis  army  of  a  million  men  or  more  to  the 
Continent  next  spring. 

I,  of  course,  said  nothing,  but  I  knew  a  great 
deal  better,  both  from  War-Office  sources  and 
from  contact  with  the  English  officers  in  France. 

It  would  not  be  right,  although  information 
was  not  given  me  in  confidence,  to  attempt  to 
name  the  exact  number  and  position  of  troops 
Kitchener  had  on  the  Continent  toward  the  close 
of  December.  But  I  may  tell  what  anybody  was 
free  to  pick  up  on  French  soil.  I  asked  an  Eng- 
lish officer  of  good  rank  how  many  men  the 
English  had  at  the  front  and  he  responded 
promptly  220,000  at  the  front,  and  50,000  on  the 
lines  of  communication.  He  was  right  for  that 
date  in  early  December,  but  later  more  troops 
were  sent  over.  Indeed,  they  were  quietly  going 
and  coming  all  the  time  across  the  Channel,  and, 
notwithstanding  losses,  the  number  at  the  front 
was  being  steadily  augmented.  There  were  also 
troops  in  training  on  French  soil,  and  550,000  in 
condition  for  shipment  from  England. 

Kitchener  is  one  of  the  greatest  reserve-supply 
men  in  the  world.  He  is  a  natural-born  banker; 
he  keeps  his  eye  on  his  reserves  fully  as  much  as 
on  his  activities,  and  perhaps  more  so. 

When  he  called  for  100,000  troops  the  British 


110  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

public  became  weary  and  demanded  to  know 
how  long  before  he  would  get  them.  This  gave 
an  impression  throughout  the  world  that  Eng- 
lish recruiting  was  very  slow;  but  when  forced  to 
show  down  his  hand,  Kitchener  had  to  admit 
that  under  the  call  for  100,000  men  he  had  ac- 
cepted many  more  and  was  still  accepting. 

Then  they  raised  the  call  to  a  million,  and  in 
December  Kitchener  had  more  than  1,000,000 
men  under  that  call,  but  I  was  particular  to 
ascertain  that  he  had  not  made  a  call  for  a  sec- 
ond million.  It  was  all  under  the  call  for  1,000,- 
000  men  to  arm. 

But  I  did  learn  from  authoritative  sources 
that  a  house-to-house  canvass,  and  millions  of 
circulars  sent  out,  had  received  responses  that 
showed  the  War  Office  where  the  number  of 
recruits,  or  men  in  training,  could  be  quickly  put 
above  2,000,000  the  moment  there  was  need  or 
room  for  them. 

WTien  England  sent  her  first  expeditionary 
force  of  100,000  men  to  the  Continent  there  was 
no  public  report  of  how  steadily  it  was  aug- 
mented. The  official  announcement  was  simply 
that  the  line  should  not  be  diminished  and  that 
all  losses  should  be  made  good. 

An  American  acquaintance  of  mine,  whom  I 


ENGLISH  LOSSES  111 

found  in  France  fighting  in  the  uniform  of  the 
English,  had  made  the  declaration  from  his 
quick  perception  of  the  situation  at  the  outset 
that  if  before  January  1  the  English  should  have 
sent  over  only  another  100,000  men,  they  would 
have  only  100,000  left  there  at  the  end  of  the 
year. 

I  found  his  estimate  of  losses  correct.  The 
English  casualties  at  the  end  of  1914  were  over 
100,000,  —  killed,  wounded,  prisoners,  and  miss- 
ing, —  or  fully  the  number  of  the  first  Expedi- 
tionary Force. 

Yet  every  week  and  every  month  the  forces  of 
the  English  grew  larger  and  never  smaller. 

The  filling  in  of  the  gaps  and  the  augmenta- 
tion of  the  English  forces  and  their  maintenance, 
munitions,  and  supplies  was  but  the  smaller 
part  of  the  work  of  the  War  Office. 

The  great  problem  was  to  compass  the  situa- 
tion as  a  worldwide  war  and  summon  and  put 
into  an  effective  fighting  machine  the  resources 
of  the  Empire. 

"  Not  alone  the  men  but  the  machinery,"  said 
Kitchener,  ''nmst  win  this  war." 

England  had  to  put  into  operation  machinery, 
financial  and  diplomatic,  machinery  of  men, 
guns,   and  transportation,   belting    the    whole 


112  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

world  and  bringing  the  whole  forward  as  a  com- 
plete organization,  yielding  here  and  pressing 
forward  there,  but  always  firmly  pressing  to 
the  one  desired  end  —  the  crushing,  crumpling 
and  destroying  of  the  war  machinery  of  Ger- 
many. At  the  beginning  England  could  not 
turn  out  10,000  rifles  a  week;  and  a  rifle  can 
shoot  well  for  only  about  1000  rounds.  Yet  in 
December  a  single  contractor  in  England  was 
turning  out  40,000  a  week,  and  every  possible 
contractor  there  and  elsewhere  had  his  hands 
full. 

Kitchener  must  compass  every  detail  from  the 
rifle  to  the  supply  base;  from  the  seasoned  wood 
for  that  rifle  right  down  to  the  number  of  troops 
he  must  have  on  the  Continent  when  it  comes  to 
a  settlement;  for,  says  Kitchener,  "You  cannot 
draw  unless  you  hold  cards." 

The  broad  sweep  of  the  English  preparations 
may  be  indicated  by  this :  that  when  war  broke 
out  England  not  only  commandeered  horses  in 
every  city,  village,  and  highway  of  England, 
taking  them  from  carriages  and  from  under  the 
saddle,  but  started  buying  them  over  the  seas. 
Of  English  shipping  she  gathered  into  her  war- 
fold  such  a  number  of  boats  as  I  do  not  dare  to 
repeat.   She  gathered  in  under  the  admiralty 


HORSES   AND   SHIPS  113 

flag  so  many  steamships  from  the  mercantile 
marine  that  those  which  were  found  most  ex- 
pensive to  operate  were  soon  turned  back  into 
the  channels  of  trade.  With  the  many  hundred 
steamers  that  she  commandeered  she  set 
about  transporting  everything  needed,  including 
horses,  from  over  the  ocean. 

The  French  bought  their  horses  by  the  thou- 
sand in  Texas  and  contracted  at  good  prices  for 
their  shipment  to  Bordeaux.  Steamship  rates 
became  almost  prohibitive,  and  the  horses  ar- 
rived from  their  long  journey  in  poor  condition. 
England  inspected  the  horses  in  America,  paid 
for  them,  and  then  put  them  in  charge  of  her 
own  men  on  her  own  ships,  and  landed  them  by 
the  shortest  routes  in  England  and  on  the  Con- 
tinent, in  prime  condition. 

Although  Germany  had  been  buying  liberally 
of  horses  in  Ireland  as  early  as  March,  when  the 
long  arm  of  Great  Britain  reached  out  there  was 
no  failure  in  her  mounts  for  the  cannon  and  cav- 
alry divisions.  For  good  horses  at  home  and 
abroad  she  did  not  hesitate  to  pay  as  high  as 
$350. 

Americans  should  not  forget  that  this  war  has 
brought  about  the  greatest  contraction  in  ocean 
tonnage  that  has  ever  been  seen.    I  estimate 


114  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

that  about  one  fourth  of  the  world's  oversea 
tonnage  has  been  commandeered,  interned,  or 
put  out  of  service.  Before  the  war  the  Germans 
had  nearly  one  eighth  of  the  world's  mercantile 
tonnage.  That  is  now  interned,  destroyed,  or 
tied  up,  outside  the  trade  on  the  Baltic.  As 
much  more  has  been  taken  by  the  Allies  from  the 
mercantile  to  the  war  marine.  It  must  also 
be  figured  that  the  Baltic  and  other  seas  hold 
locked-in  ships,  and  the  bottom  of  the  sea  like- 
wise holds  some  more. 

Considering  the  sudden  demand  upon  the 
world's  mercantile  tonnage  and  its  sudden  cur- 
tailment, it  is  surprising  that  ocean  commerce 
has  not  been  more  interfered  with  or  made  to 
pay  even  higher  rates  than  the  abnormal  ones 
now  existing. 

Of  war-tonnage,  besides  three  superdread- 
noughts  purchased  and  four  finished  before  the 
end  of  1914,  the  British  have  under  construction 
to  be  finished  in  1915  ten  battleships  of  from 
25,500  to  27,500  tons,  armed  with  15-inch  guns. 
The  French  have  finished  four  of  23,000  tons, 
with  13|-inch  guns,  and  are  finishing  three  more. 
The  Russians  are  at  work  upon  six  of  23,000  tons, 
w^ith  12-inch  guns.  The  Japanese  are  building 
one    superdreadnought    of    30,000    tons,   with 


WAR   SUPPLIES  115 

14-inch  guns,  and  three  battle-cruisers  of  27,500 
tons  and  27-knot  speed,  with  14-inch  guns. 

Churchill,  it  will  be  remembered,  figured  that 
England  could  lose  one  battleship  each  month 
and  still  maintain  her  full  strength.  While  the 
building  of  war-tonnage  seems  to  be  well  in 
hand,  there  is  no  corresponding  replacement  of 
mercantile  tonnage. 

I  have  the  highest  authority  for  the  statement 
that  the  world  possesses  no  machinery  at  the 
present  time  to  manufacture  war-material  at 
the  rate  at  which  the  nations  of  Europe  have 
been  using  it  during  the  first  hundred  days  of 
the  war. 

At  one  time  the  German  armies  were  explod- 
ing 120,000  shells  a  day  in  France  and  Belgium. 
The  response  from  the  French  alone  was  80,000 
shells  a  day,  and  General  Joffre  made  a  request 
that  his  supply  be  put  up  to  100,000  per  day. 
This  is  for  shells  of  all  sizes,  and  the  estimate 
to  me  was  of  an  average  cost  of  two  pounds, 
or  ten  dollars,  per  shell.  Some  of  the  big  German 
shells  cost  as  high  as  $500  each.  In  some  kinds 
of  shrapnel,  holding  300  bullets,  there  are  more 
than  thirty  pieces  of  mechanism. 

Within  forty-eight  hours  after  England  de- 
clared war  she  had  engaged  the  total  output  of 


116  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

an  American  manufacturer,  whose  machinery 
was  an  important  part  of  the  shell-making  busi- 
ness. An  American  factory  in  Connecticut  re- 
ceived orders  for  $25,000,000  worth  of  cartridges 
which  would  mean,  at  five  cents  a  cartridge, 
500,000,000  rounds  of  ammunition.  I  know  of  a 
single  order  to  America  from  England  for  10,- 
000,000  horseshoes. 

Through  a  single  agency  in  America  more 
than  $150,000,000  worth  of  war-supplies  was 
placed  several  weeks  ago.  I  do  not  know  wheth- 
er this  included  a  single  order,  of  which  I  have 
knowledge,  for  3,000,000  American  rifles,  deliv- 
ered over  three  years  at  $30  a  rifle,  or  $90,000,- 
000.  The  company  receiving  this  order  had  to 
work  so  quickly  to  install  new  machinery  that 
old  buildings  were  dynamited  to  clear  the  land. 

Such  orders  to  America  are  bound  to  tell  upon 
our  exports,  and,  combined  with  the  advance  in 
food-stuffs,  the  loss  in  cotton  values  by  the  out- 
break of  the  war  is  offset  more  than  twice  over. 

America  must  feel  the  effect  of  these  orders 
when  the  goods  go  forward  in  increasing  quan- 
tities. They  are  paid  for  as  promptly  as  shipped. 
Many  an  American  factory  has  been  put  on 
three  eight-hour  shifts  for  the  day's  work  on 
these  orders. 


WAR  SUPPLIES  117 

A  Southern  manufacturer  received  an  order 
for  5000  dozen  pairs  of  socks  to  be  shipped  week- 
ly for  six  months.  The  price  was  under  $1.00 
per  dozen,  with  ten  per  cent  of  wool  in  them. 
He  complained  that  he  was  making  only  twenty 
cents  per  dozen  profit,  while  if  he  had  not  been 
so  anxious  for  the  order,  he  might  just  as  well 
have  got  a  price  that  would  have  shown  more 
than  twice  this  profit. 

In  boots  and  shoes,  England,  instead  of  giving 
orders  to  this  country,  has  been  buying  leather 
in  America,  and  filling  all  her  own  factories.  It 
is  the  policy  of  England  to  fill  every  workshop 
in  her  tight  little  island  before  she  permits  busi- 
ness to  overflow. 

To-day  there  are  no  unemployed  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, except  in  the  cotton  districts  dependent 
upon  German  trade.  Wage  advances  and  over- 
time are  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception. 

The  one  country  that  the  warring  world  must 
turn  to  for  supplies  is  the  United  States,  and 
that  in  increasing  measure.  Orders  for  $300,000,- 
000  of  war  goods  already  received  must  be  du- 
plicated several  times. 

Every  American  automobile  manufacturer 
able  to  deliver  motor-trucks  in  lots  of  one  hun- 
dred, has  received  his  orders  for  shipments  to  the 
Alhes. 


118  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Germany  has  now  no  base  from  which  to  get 
many  important  supplies.  In  a  long  contest  the 
Allies  will  supply  motor-cars,  shells,  guns,  and 
ammunition  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  Ger- 
many can  manufacture  them.  Factories  for  this 
work  are  expanding  in  both  Russia  and  America. 

The  English  do  not  speak  against  the  Germans 
as  a  people.  They  believe  them  seriously  misled 
by  Prussian  militarism,  which  they  declare 
must  be  crushed  absolutely. 

WTiere  formerly  England  was  an  open  door 
to  Germans  and  suspicions  against  German  spies 
were  laughed  at,  the  bars  are  now  sharply  up. 

Most  of  the  golfing  clubs  have  voted  to  sus- 
pend the  activities  of  members  with  German 
antecedents. 

At  the  clubs  in  Pall  Mall,  notices  have  been 
posted  requesting  members  not  to  introduce 
during  the  war  Germans  or  those  of  German 
descent. 

Membership  on  the  Stock  Exchange  is  not 
continuous  as  in  this  country,  and  at  the  March 
elections  in  1915  there  will  be  a  dropping  out  of 
German  names. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ENGLISH   WAR   FINANCE 

Protecting  Trade  and  the  Trader  —  How  German  Banks  Paid  — 
The  English  Loan  —  England's  Wealth  —  The  Income  Tax  — 
More  Taxes. 

A  GIANT  Atlas  bearing  the  civilized  world  on  its 
financial  shoulders  has  arisen  between  the  North 
and  the  Irish  seas.  That  is  the  picture  that  stands 
at  the  opening  of  1915,  where  before  Germany 
had  endeavored  to  stamp  the  label  "  Perfidious 
and  degraded  nation  of  shopkeepers." 

Only  the  pencil  of  a  Dore  could  sketch  this 
giant  and  put  him  in  figures  of  proper  relief  as, 
aroused  from  his  pastime  of  trade  and  the  ac- 
quisition of  shillings,  he  summons  with  one  hand 
the  resources  of  the  empire  and  with  the  other 
passes  them  out  to  needy  warring  nations,  tak- 
ing care  all  the  while  that  the  necessary  dealing 
of  exchange  and  commerce  have  the  least  pos- 
sible disturbance. 

Kitchener  says  the  war  may  last  for  two  years, 
but  he  is  making  preparations  for  three  years, 
and  must  do  this  job  so  thoroughly  that  no  repe- 
tition will  be  required. 


120  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

If  it  IS  war  for  three  years,  then  this  mighty 
financial  Atlas  of  England  is  preparing  to  write 
its  name  on  promises  to  pay  more  gold  than  all 
the  money-gold  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  to- 
day. And  England  won't  hesitate  to  do  it  if 
necessary  —  not  for  one  moment. 

How  can  she  advance  money  to  Russia,  Bel- 
gium, France,  and  other  countries  at  war  or  just 
going  into  the  war,  and  ask  no  foreign  assist- 
ance, no  overseas  help,  —  except  to  be  let 
alone, — expand  her  home  trade  and  wages,  pay 
with  a  lavish  hand,  and  still  pile  up  real  gold 
both  at  home  and  over  the  ocean? 

The  first  answer  is  because  she  does  expand 
trade;  because  she  does  pay  and  pay  promptly; 
and  because  she  does  protect  her  own  trade. 

The  United  States  does  not  protect  its  trade 
or  its  citizens  anywhere  in  the  world  to-day.  It 
shivers  in  war-time,  and  borrows  of  everybody 
else  when  it  has  a  panic  of  its  own. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  make  trade,  and  that 
is  to  pay  and  protect.  England,  through  cen- 
turies of  fighting  to  protect  both  trade  and  the 
trader,  has  learned  the  way  to  the  highest  free- 
dom in  both  trade  and  finance. 

Therefore,  before  this  most  Audacious  War 
was  set  afoot  England  had  a  very  small  stock 


PROTECTING  TRADE  AND   TRADER     121 

of  coin  gold  but  a  very  large  stock  of  gold  credit- 
bills. 

For  years  England  has  held  in  her  cash  box 
from  $1,800,000,000  to  $2,500,000,000  of  the 
commercial  credits  of  the  world.  With  goods 
and  trade-honor  behind  these  promises  to  pay 
gold,  she  had  no  need  of  the  metal  but  only  of 
command  of  the  seas,  that  her  gold  might  come 
in  when  needed.  When  the  war  broke  out, 
$600,000,000  of  these  gold  promises  to  pay  were 
of  German  and  Austrian  origin.  The  big  London 
bankers  who  had  their  names  on  the  back  of 
such  acceptances  could  not  in  honor  underwrite 
any  more  commercial  bills.  They  knew  their 
capital  was  involved  in  collection  of  those  al- 
ready out. 

But  Britain  said  the  commerce  of  England 
must  go  on  as  well  as  the  war.  The  people  who 
held  these  acceptances  were  promptly  invited 
to  turn  them  into  the  Bank  of  England,  which 
held  the  guaranty  of  Great  Britain  behind  it, 
and  receive  the  money  therefor;  the  discount 
rate  after  maturity  to  have  2  per  cent  added 
thereto,  1  per  cent  to  go  to  the  Bank  for  ex- 
penses and  1  per  cent  to  the  government  for  re- 
serve fund  to  cover  any  losses.  Of  such  bills 
$600,000,000  were  promptly  discounted. 


122  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

I  hear  that  two  banks,  the  London  City  & 
Midland  with  its  $525,000,000  of  deposits,  and 
Lloyds'  Bank,  both  refused  to  rediscount.  They 
believed  the  investments  in  commercial  paper 
they  had  made  were  perfectly  good,  and  that 
they  were  as  well  able  as  the  Bank  to  wait  for 
payment  until  one  year  after  the  war  if  neces- 
sary. 

But  to  date  more  than  half  of  these  redis- 
counted  bills  have  been  paid. 

It  may  be  of  financial  interest  to  narrate  how 
payments  could  be  accomplished  when  by  the 
King's  orders  there  could  not  be  any  "  dealings 
with  the  enemy  "  and  payment  to  either  side 
was  forbidden  by  both.  Yet  the  Dresdner  Bank 
and  other  big  German  and  Austrian  banks  have 
to  date  met  fully  one  half  their  London  obliga- 
tions. 

They  were  enabled  to  do  this  because  their 
London  branches  were  independent  institutions 
whose  independence  was  recognized  by  the 
British  government.  The  London  branches  were 
thus  liquidated,  collecting  in  and  meeting  their 
obligations  at  maturity,  so  far  as  possible. 

Liquidation  in  acceptances  is  one  of  the  keys 
to  the  success  of  the  English  loan.  While  Eng- 
land had  the  ability  before  the  war  to  discount 


THE   ENGLISH  LOAN  123 

$2,500,000,000  of  acceptances,  and  with  the  pres- 
ent expanded  base  of  the  Bank  would,  without 
war,  have  the  abihty  to  discount  $3,000,000,000, 
or  three  times  our  national  debt,  there  is  now  no 
large  business  offering.  The  discount  credits  can 
therefore  be  measurably  turned  to  the  war-loan 
account.  One  of  the  biggest  acceptance  houses 
in  London  told  me  that  the  post-moratorium 
bills,  or  the  new  acceptances  made  after  the 
moratorium,  could  not  amount  to  more  than 
£80,000,000,  or  $400,000,000. 

With  the  liquidation  on  account  of  pre- 
moratorium  bills  and  the  absence  of  new  busi- 
ness I  should  estimate  that  the  London  money 
market  was  able  to  take  care  of  the  £350,000,000 
loan  put  forth  in  November  by  the  government 
without  much  regard  to  the  investing  com- 
munity. 

With  expanding  trade  and  confidence,  Eng- 
lish investment  interests  can  absorb  the  major 
part  of  this  huge  loan  before  next  summer,  when 
another  loan  of  about  equal  size  must  be  put 
forth,  according  to  present  calculations. 

This  second  loan  will  probably  be  for  three  or 
four  hundred  millions  pounds  sterling,  bear  4  per 
cent,  and  issue  at  par.  The  November  loan  was 
issued  at  95  per  cent  and  it  was  announced  in 


1^4  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Parliament  that  the  Bank  of  England  would 
loan  the  issue  price  at  one  per  cent  under  the 
Bank  rate. 

That  the  loan  was  fully  subscribed  is  not  con- 
tradicted by  the  small  fraction  of  discount  soon 
c^uoted  on  the  full-paid  loan.  One  could  fully 
pay  the  loan,  taking  the  discounts  on  undue 
maturities  and  sell  at  a  fraction  under  95  and 
still  make  a  profit. 

I  believe  the  estimate  of  an  annual  English 
surplus  for  investment  of  $2,000,000,000  per 
annum  is  far  too  low.  This  figure  is  upon  the 
basis  that  only  about  20  per  cent  of  the  river  of 
interest,  dividends,  and  profits  flowing  annually 
to  British  pocket-books  is  available  for  reinvest- 
ment. 

In  the  present  war  stress  and  with  economy 
practised  to-day  more  by  the  capitalist  classes 
than  the  laboring  classes,  the  amount  of  money 
for  reinvestment  should  be  far  greater  than  this. 

English  finance  will  cut  its  cloth  according  to 
the  pattern.  If  there  is  only  $2,000,000,000  per 
annum  of  surplus  earnings  to  put  into  the  war, 
that  money  will  be  spent;  and  if  England  has  50 
or  100  per  cent  more,  that  money  likewise  will 
be  spent,  but  spent  so  judiciously  that  the  largest 
possible  sum  from  it  is  kept  in  channels  of  Eng- 


ENGLAND'S  WEALTH  125 

lish  trade.  The  British  Empire  will  work  and 
finance  the  fight  thus  within  a  circle,  and  right 
on  its  own  base. 

The  surprising  thing  is  that  it  can  be  called 
upon  to  extend  financial  help  to  its  allies.  But 
everybody  except  Germany  was  caught  abso- 
lutely unprepared.  The  war  was  early  on  French 
soil,  tying  up  the  resources  of  some  of  the  richest 
provinces  of  France.  Russia  had  so  little  thought 
of  war  that,  as  I  have  previously  explained,  she 
had  deposited  from  her  great  gold  reserve  so  that 
it  had  been  loaned  out  on  time  and  therefore 
was  not  available  for  the  start  of  the  war. 

Hence  we  have  the  spectacle  of  Russia  gather- 
ing up  8,000,000  pounds  sterling  in  gold  and 
sending  it  to  the  Bank  of  England  and,  on  this 
basis,  borrowing  of  the  Bank  20,000,000  pounds 
sterling. 

Of  course,  this  is  good  banking  and  good  busi- 
ness and  a  good  alliance.  The  Allies  are  bunch- 
ing their  war  orders  and  credits,  and  England  is 
entitled  to  hold  the  bag  since  she  is  carrying  the 
financial  burden. 

England's  war  finance  is  not  wholly  measured 
in  her  expenses  or  loans  to  other  countries.  In  a 
single  issue  of  a  London  paper  you  can  count 
daily  reports  of  more  than  a  dozen  charitable 


126  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

funds  connected  with  the  war-work.  These  funds 
range  all  the  way  from  "Aid  to  the  Mine- 
Sweepers,"  ''Gloves  for  the  Soldiers,"  and  the 
''Servian  Relief  and  Montenegrin  Red  Cross 
Funds"  up  to  the  "Prince  of  Wales's  Fund." 
This  last  was  over  $20,000,000  before  Christmas. 

The  suddenness  of  this  war  may  be  illustrated 
by  this  fact :  A  friend  of  mine,  who  is  managing 
director  of  a  big  English  concern,  has  assumed 
the  responsibility  for  seven  years  past  of  keeping 
in  England  one  year's  supply  of  everything  that 
his  company  was  likely  to  require  from  the  Con- 
tinent. This  was  at  a  cost  to  his  company 
of  many  thousands  of  dollars.  W'ith  dogged  de- 
termination he  stuck  to  the  same  policy  for 
1914,  although  in  January  of  that  year  it  was 
clear  to  him  that  Germany  could  not  afford  to 
go  to  war.  W^hile  he  was  happy  over  his  judg- 
ment, he  admitted  in  conversation  with  me  in 
December,  1914,  that  in  January,  1914,  the  out- 
look was  less  indicative  of  a  general  European 
war  than  it  had  been  for  many  years. 

Thirty  per  cent  of  the  workmen  of  his  factory 
had  gone  to  the  war  and  his  company  was  pro- 
viding £250,000  a  year  to  maintain  the  wages  of 
the  workmen  at  war  up  to  the  same  amount  as 
they  would  receive  if  they  had  stayed  at  home. 


THE  INCOME  TAX  127 

He  said  that  in  one  of  his  offices,  of  80  men 
eligible  for  the  work,  78  had  enlisted,  and,  what 
was  wonderful,  the  women  were  glad  to  take  up 
the  heavy  work  abandoned  by  the  men,  — 
something  they  would  have  refused  to  do  in  all 
ordinary  times.  On  the  whole,  the  output  of 
this  concern  and  its  efficiency  were  materially  in- 
creased, not  diminished,  by  the  war. 

It  is  figured  that  troops  at  the  front  mean  an 
expenditure  of  one  pound  per  man  per  day,  and 
that  English  troops  in  training  mean  an  expen- 
diture of  not  less  than  ten  shillings  per  man  per 
day. 

The  war  expenses  of  Great  Britain  must  thus 
be  above  one  million  pounds  per  day  and  stead- 
ily increasing.  Indeed,  the  best  economic  esti- 
mate I  have  of  the  cost  of  the  war  to  England 
is  500,000,000  pounds  the  first  year. 

While  the  English  declare  that  they  are  fight- 
ing for  their  children  and  their  grandchildren, 
they  are  not  willing  to  leave  to  them  the  full  load 
of  the  war-cost,  and  gladly  do  they  assume  all 
possible  burdens  in  the  present  time. 

The  income  tax,  which  began  in  1842  at  two 
pence  in  the  pound,  has  now  been  doubled  from 
one  shilling  and  three  pence  to  two  shillings  and 
six  pence  in  the  pound.   This  is  on  the  average, 


128  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

and  takes  nearly  one  eighth  of  a  man's  income. 
There  are  very  great  variations  in  this  tax.  The 
rate  I  have  given  is  the  rate  on  dividends.  Upon 
wages  and  salaries  the  tax  is  somewhat  less. 

The  income  tax  is  also  apportioned  over  a 
three  years'  average.  The  supertax  raises  the 
contribution  of  the  wealthy  to  one  fourth  of 
their  incomes,  although  on  the  average  it  is  fig- 
ured to  take  only  an  eighth. 

It  is  expected  that  the  income  tax  may  be 
further  increased,  possibly  doubled,  next  year. 
I  was  not  surprised  therefore  to  find  American 
millionaires  with  houses  in  London  returning  to 
New  York  and  making  sure  of  their  American 
citizenship. 

Every  penny  in  the  pound  in  the  tax  rate  pro- 
duces £2,500,000  sterling,  or  $12,500,000,  nearly 
one  half  the  national  income  tax  of  the  United 
States  for  1913.  Indeed,  the  English  income  tax 
for  the  year  ending  March  31,  1915,  is  estimated 
to  produce  75,000,000  pounds  sterling,  or  about 
twelve  times  the  income  tax  of  the  United  States 
and  from  less  than  half  the  number  of  people. 
In  other  words,  the  income  tax  of  Great  Britain 
per  capita  is  this  year  twenty -five  times  that  of 
the  United  States. 

But  still  the  United  States  is  really  in  no  need 


MORE  TAXES  129 

either  of  income  tax  or  of  war-machinery.  It  is 
too  late  for  the  United  States  to  prepare  for  any 
contest  with  the  one  nation  that  goes  to  war  over 
tariffs  —  Germany. 

After  this  war  and  a  settlement  of  the  Mexican 
situation,  warships  will  be  for  sale  at  fifty  cents 
on  the  dollar.  Germany  will  have  no  navy  of 
consequence,  and  England  will  reduce  her  pres- 
ent navy  by  at  least  one  half,  since  her  expan- 
sion of  late  years  has  been  forced  entirely  by 
Germany. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

GEmiAN   RESOURCES 

The  Food-Supply  —  War  Expenses  —  The  Copper  Supply  —  The 
Call  for  Gold  —  No  Outside  Resources  —  The  Human  Sacrifice. 

Counting  Montenegro  and  Servia  as  two  na- 
tions, there  are  now  seven  countries  at  w^ar 
against  Germany,  Austria,  and  Turkey,  and  two 
more,  possibly  three,  may  join  in  within  a  few 
weeks.  If  Greece  enters  the  battle-line,  it  \\dll 
be  ten  nations  against  three.  ^Vhen  Roumania 
and  Italy  join  the  Allies,  as  is  now  being  diplo- 
matically arranged,  Germany  will  be  completely 
surrounded,  with  Switzerland,  Holland,  and 
Denmark  in  a  measure  locked  in  and  powerless 
to  give  aid  or  assistance  to  the  Germans.  In- 
deed, these  three  smaller  countries  and  Scan- 
dinavia are  practically  locked  in  now,  with  the 
North  Sea  placed  in  the  war  zone,  and  Italy  as 
well  as  Denmark  and  Holland  shutting  out  all 
contraband  goods  for  reexport  to  Germany  and 
Austria. 

Thus  we  have  the  spectacle  of  two  nations 
of  more  than  115,000,000  people  actually  sur- 


WAR  EXPENSES  131 

rounded  and  besieged.  Jointly  these  two  nations 
in  occupation  of  their  entire  territory  could  feed 
themselves  from  their  own  soil.  They  cannot 
be  starved  out,  as  in  a  besieged  city,  for  lack  of 
bread,  meat,  or  drink.  But  the  siege  at  the  pres- 
ent time  is  not  against  the  people  of  Germany 
and  Austria:  it  is  against  the  war-machine  of 
Germany.  This  war-machine  can  be  starved  out 
when  cut  off  from  gold,  copper,  rubber,  and  oils. 
If  these  cannot  be  cut  off,  then  her  men  must  be 
cut  down. 

Germany  has  raised  by  war-loan  $1,100,- 
000,000.  She  has  spent  this  and  $500,000,000 
more  besides.  The  financial  strain  is  shown  in 
her  paper  and  exchanges  at  discounts  outside 
her  own  border.  Within  her  own  realm  she  is 
piling  up  a  gold  reserve  in  her  great  bank,  to 
sustain  her  expanded  paper  issues  and  her 
strained  credit;  but  how  is  she  securing  the  gold.^ 

Calling  a  mark  a  shilling,  or  25  cents,  let  us 
speak  for  a  moment  of  Germany's  finances  in 
marks.  After  the  war  of  1870  she  planted  125,- 
000,000  marks  in  gold  from  the  French  indem- 
nity in  her  war-tower  at  Spandau.  In  June,  1913, 
the  Reichstag  voted  to  double  this  to  250,000,- 
000  marks  in  gold,  the  addition  to  be  known 
also  as  the  Spandau  tower  reserve,  but  to  be 


132  THE   AUDACIOUS  WAR 

placed  in  the  Reichsbank  and  not  counted  in  the 
bank  reserves.  There  was  also  to  be  coined 
125,000,000  marks  in  silver. 

The  whole  was  simply  a  stirrup-cup  to  enable 
Germany  quickly  to  bound  into  the  war-saddle 
with  purchase  of  horses,  food,  and  the  light  or 
perishable  munitions  of  war  which  must  be  had 
at  the  outset  and  at  a  time  when  war  panic  first 
seizes  the  currency  and  supplies  of  a  community. 

The  basis  of  German  finance  was  1,200,000,- 
000  marks  in  specie,  mostly  gold,  in  the  vaults 
of  the  Reichsbank  at  Berlin  —  the  central  bank 
of  issue  and  bankers'  deposits  —  with  its  485 
branches. 

Before  the  war  this  metal  reserve  had  been 
brought  up  to  1,400,000,000  marks.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  of  course,  the  Spandau  tower 
reserve  in  specie  must  have  gone  into  the  bank, 
and  every  metal  reserve  that  the  government 
could  lay  its  hands  upon  likewise  went  into  the 
bank.  Germany  then  boasted  a  gold  reserve  ap- 
proaching 2,000,000,000  marks.  In  this  month 
of  February  the  bank  gold  reserve  was  put  well 
above  2,000,000,000. 

Bank-paper  issues  meanwhile  expanded  by 
the  billion. 

The  great  contest  in  Germany  is  to  maintain 


THE  COPPER  SUPPLY  133 

this  bank  metal  reserve,  and  it  is  the  task  of 
Sisyphus  and  of  herculean  proportions.  Out- 
side of  the  United  States,  Germany  has  prob- 
ably little,  if  any,  credit  to-day.  She  must  pay 
in  gold  for  what  she  buys  from  without,  and 
from  without  she  must  get  copper  and  oil.  Lub- 
ricating oils  are  troubling  her  now  quite  as  much 
as  diminishing  supplies  of  gasolene. 

To  get  copper  for  munitions  of  war  she 
can  produce  within  her  own  borders  90,000,000 
pounds.  Of  late  years  she  has  been  importing 
from  America  300,000,000  pounds  per  annum, 
so  that  electrification  has  been  going  on  for  many 
years  all  over  Germany,  and  copper  wires  in 
telegraph-postoffice  work  scintillate  in  the  sky- 
line of  the  German  cities.  These  can  come  down 
and  be  replaced  with  iron  or  aluminum.  Of 
course,  the  first  wires  to  come  down  will  be  the 
power-transmission  wires.  They  can  readily  be 
replaced  with  aluminum,  of  which  Germany  is 
the  parent  producer.  A  very  fair  telephone  ser- 
vice can  be  maintained  with  iron  wires.  Those 
who  are  looking  for  the  exhaustion  of  Germany 
on  a  copper  basis  are  reckoning  without  knowl- 
edge of  German  resources. 

For  petrol  she  can  substitute  benzol  and  alco- 
hol, with  some  inconvenience.  Germany  is  like- 


134  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

wise  the  home  and  center  of  industrial  alcohol, 
which  it  manufactures  from  surplus  products. 
But  when  it  comes  to  gold,  there  is  the  rub. 
Germany  fixes  a  price  of  20  cents  a  pound  for 
copper  within  her  own  borders,  but  the  govern- 
ment will  pay  30  cents  a  pound  to  anybody  who 
will  deliver  it  to  her  from  the  outside.  Indeed, 
I  have  heard  of  one  lot  of  copper  in  Sweden  for 
which  40  cents  a  pound  was  bid  if  the  parties 
could  ship  it  out  across  the  Baltic. 

I  have  a  friend  who  was  bid  $5  a  gallon  for 
gasolene  if  he  would  land  it  within  Germany, 
but  such  bids  are  not  necessarily  convincing. 
They  may  be  made  to  fool  the  enemy.  There 
are  also  stories  of  great  underground  storage- 
tanks  of  petroleum,  owned  by  the  government 
and  concealed  in  the  Black  Forest,  that  have 
never  yet  been  touched.  It  is  inconceivable  that 
Germany  should  plunge  into  a  great  war  without 
having  resources  of  copper  and  petroleum.  But 
for  all  that  is  bought  from  without  she  must  pay 
gold.  No  financiers  know  better  the  value  of 
gold  as  the  underpinning  in  finance  than  do  the 
Germans. 

Germany  was  very  lavish  with  her  gold  at  the 
start,  and  the  French  believed  that  it  was  an 
assistance  in  her  military  strategy.  At  the  battle 


THE  CALL  FOR  GOLD  135 

of  Charleroi  50,000  German  cavalry  screened  an 
unsuspected  infantry  force  of  300,000  men  and 
the  French  had  to  retreat;  but  that  Maubeuge 
surrendered  40,000  men,  without  more  fighting, 
gives  rise  in  the  French  mind  to  suspicions  of 
German  gold.  The  anathemas  of  the  French 
against  their  commander  at  Maubeuge  make  it 
much  safer  for  him  to  remain  a  prisoner  in  Ger- 
many. The  French  caught  one  German  wearing 
a  French  uniform  but  having  upon  his  person 
one  million  francs.  Of  course,  they  shot  him  as 
a  spy,  but  they  were  more  incensed  by  the 
bribes  he  carried  than  by  his  uniform. 

Everybody  in  Germany  is  called  upon  to  lend 
a  hand  in  maintaining  the  supply  of  gold  for  the 
government.  The  patriotism  of  the  people  was 
first  appealed  to.  Then  laws  were  passed.  Peo- 
ple are  '* requested"  to  give  up  their  jewelry,  to 
make  a  patriotic  sacrifice  of  it  for  the  Father- 
land. Cards  are  printed  in  the  newspapers  urg- 
ing the  people  for  the  sake  of  the  Fatherland  to 
bring  all  their  gold  into  the  Reichsbank. 

So  fine  is  the  search  for  gold  that  wedding 
rings  are  given  from  the  fingers  of  the  women, 
and  iron  rings  are  substituted  as  badges  of 
patriotism. 

While  every  other  nation  on  earth  since  1900 


136  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

has  been  accumulating  gold  in  bank  reserve, 
England  alone  has  stood  aloof  and  accumulated 
credit  instead  of  gold.  English  financiers  laugh 
at  gold  except  as  it  can  be  made  useful.  They 
prefer  to  hold  interest-bearing  promises  to  pay 
gold.  To-day  England  holds  the  keys  to  the 
world's  gold  outside  of  Germany,  and  I  have 
a  suspicion  that  she  is  not  averse  to  American 
cotton  going  into  Germany  if  it  takes  out  the 
gold  in  return. 

Germany  is  young  as  a  banking,  trading,  and 
industrial  nation.  England  insists  that  both 
men  and  gold  must  be  at  work.  In  Germany  the 
gold  reserve  must  be  maintained  and,  with  for- 
eign trade  cut  off,  men  must  be  idle.  In  Eng- 
land both  the  gold  and  the  men  are  at  work. 
Labor  was  never  better  employed  in  England 
than  to-day.  The  English  policy  in  this  war- 
time is  to  fill  every  idle  hand  with  productive 
industry;  to  work  the  machinery  day  and  night; 
and  to  keep  the  gold  in  England  so  far  as  is  nec- 
essary and  to  keep  it  circulating  in  England. 
The  national  loss  begins  when  you  lose  either 
the  golden  days  of  labor,  the  gold  of  the  sunshine 
that  makes  the  harvest  of  the  valleys  or  the  gold 
of  finance  and  commerce. 

When  the  Germans  fought  the  French  in  1870, 


NO  OUTSIDE  RESOURCES  137 

60  per  cent  of  her  people  lived  on  the  land.  Now, 
forty-four  years  later,  she  is  fighting  the  whole 
world,  but  only  30  per  cent  of  her  people  live  by 
the  fruit  of  the  soil. 

That  is  the  simple  answer  as  to  why  Germany, 
a  country  besieged,  cannot  win  against  the 
world. 

Germany  has  no  sea-expansive  ability,  no  for- 
eign credit,  no  international  reserves  to  carry 
out  an  offensive  warfare.  Her  only  possibility 
of  success  lay  in  a  sudden  and  decisive  march 
over  the  rich  territory  of  France,  the  possession 
of  Paris,  and  a  huge  indemnity  tax  levy  as  in 
1871.  The  rest  might  have  been  easy.  Hence 
the  supreme  military  necessity  for  a  quick  drive 
through  Belgium,  the  only  open  road  to  Paris. 
The  size  of  the  crime  in  Belgium  has  shown  the 
supreme  financial  necessity.  There  was  no  mili- 
tary necessity  for  the  outrage  against  the  free 
Belgian  people  —  only  the  economic  necessity. 
\  There  is  nothing  left  for  Germany  but  a  de- 
fensive warfare,  a  warfare  now  conducted  upon 
foreign  soil  just  over  her  own  borders  —  the 
burden  upon  the  enemy,  the  supply  base  near  at 
hand. 

Germany  must  reduce  and  conserve  her  shell- 
fire.   The  Krupp  works  have  no  ability  to  turn 


138  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

out  daily  the  number  of  shells  that  Germany 
was  exploding,  and  the  United  States  in  its  own 
arsenals  could  not  in  a  year  make  a  week's  sup- 
ply of  shells  at  the  rate  at  which  they  were  be- 
ing exploded  from  Switzerland  to  the  English 
Channel. 

Greater  than  progress  in  the  arts  of  peace  is 
progress  in  the  art  of  war.  We  have  read  in 
the  American  papers  of  a  most  wonderful  new 
French  shell  that  in  bursting  paralyzes  and  de- 
stroys life  so  instantly  that  all  the  living  things 
within  so  many  yards  are,  in  a  flash,  set  rigid  in 
position  as  though  manufactured  for  Jarley's 
Wax  Works,  the  oflScer  standing  in  position  with 
uplifted  arm,  yet  dead,  the  soldier  by  the  win- 
dow with  a  cigar  in  his  fingers,  a  smile  on  his 
face,  stone  dead. 

I  was  informed  that  the  effectiveness  of  this 
shell  was  not  due  to  its  poisonous  gases  but  to 
the  fact  that,  instead  of  being  filled  with  bullets, 
it  was  charged  with  a  wonderful  new  explosive. 

For  the  development  of  the  science  of  war 
twelve  months  in  the  line  of  battle  is  worth  in 
new  inventions  ten  years  of  peaceful  military 
study.  A  three  years'  warfare  for  which  the 
English  are  planning  is  likely  to  put  Germany's 
thirty  years  of  "peaceful "  war  preparation  quite 


THE  HUMAN  SACRIFICE  139 

in  the  shade,  so  far  as  practical  results  are  con- 
cerned. 

I  hear  of  new  and  more  powerful  mortars  and 
cannon,  wonderful  new  rifles,  now  being  manu- 
factured by  the  million  from  secret  plans,  and 
new  guns  to  bring  down  Zeppelins,  that  it  is  not 
useful  to  discuss  here. 

In  the  first  six  months  of  this  war,  the  Ger- 
man casualties  must  be  well  up  toward  2,000,000. 
A  million  of  the  injured  may  go  back  to  the  fir- 
ing line. 

But  in  killed,  seriously  wounded,  missing,  and 
prisoners,  Germany  must  be  losing  at  the  rate 
of  2,000,000  men  a  year,  and  the  forces  of  de- 
struction against  her  will  increase  rather  than 
diminish.  That  she  can  lose  at  this  rate  for  three 
years  and  have  anything  left  worth  considera- 
tion as  a  military  power  is  beyond  reason. 

Nevertheless,  when  I  spoke  with  a  very  prom- 
inent American,  now  in  a  responsible  position 
abroad,  he  said:  "The  Germans  have  food  and 
supplies,  and  they  have  an  idea;  and  the  only 
way  to  overcome  that  idea  is  by  their  destruc- 
tion. The  South  had  no  resources  for  a  three- 
year  or  four-year  war,  but  it  had  an  institution, 
an  idea,  and  a  determination.  If  you  will  recall 
it,  at  the  close  of  the  war  there  were  practically 


140  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

no  men  left  in  the  South.  This  war  will  be  over 
when  the  fighting  men  of  Germany  have  been 
killed  off." 

I  have  so  much  respect  for  the  business,  math- 
ematical, and  scientific  mind  of  Germany,  that 
I  cannot  believe  she  will  prefer  the  destruction 
of  the  German  people,  individually  or  collect- 
ively, to  the  destruction  of  the  German  war- 
machine  which  set  on  this  war. 

I  make  the  following  estimate  of  the  casual- 
ties —  killed,  wounded,  missing,  and  prisoners  — 
of  the  warring  powers,  omitting  Turkey  and 
Japan,  up  to  February  1,  1915:  — 

German 1,800,000 

French 1,200,000 

Russian 1,500,000 

Austrian 1,300,000 

Belgian 200,000 

Servian 150,000 

Montenegrin 20,000 

English 110,000 

Total 6,280,000 

Not  in  a  hundred  years,  or  since  the  Napole- 
onic wars  of  1793  to  1815,  has  there  been  any 
war  approaching  these  casualties  now  reaching 
in  six  months  to  six  millions. 

A  remarkable  statistical  fact  concerning  the 
war,  which  I  ran  across  in  London,  was  a  com- 


THE  HUMAN   SACRIFICE  141 

putation  that  the  deaths  in  the  navy  were  sub- 
stantially equal  to  those  in  the  army,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  war  up  into  November.  Of 
casualties  in  the  army,  only  about  10  per  cent 
are  deaths.  There  are  few  wounded  to  be  re- 
turned home  from  a  naval  disaster.  When  the 
English  army  had  suffered  about  60,000  casual- 
ties, making  about  6000  men  killed,  at  the  same 
time  from  the  naval  service  6000  boys  in  blue 
had  gone  down  to  watery  graves. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

IS   IT   THE   people's   WAR? 

German  Socialism  —  German  Unity  —  A  Reverse  Political 
System  —  Business  Men  without  Political  Influence  —  A 
Voice  from  the  People  —  The  German  War  Lord. 

In  America  there  is  no  greater  conflict  of  opin- 
ion than  over  the  question  of  the  relations  of 
the  German  people  to  the  present  war.  There 
are  those  who  declare  most  emphatically  that 
when  the  German  people  once  understand  this 
war  there  will  be  revolution  in  Germany,  up- 
rising of  the  socialists,  and  the  sure  overthrow 
of  the  Hohenzollern  dynasty. 

Such  opinions  are  not  well  based,  and  their 
authors  do  not  understand  the  German  tempera- 
ment, the  principles  of  German  government, 
German  organization,  or  German  Socialism. 

Socialism  in  Germany  is  neither  of  the  de- 
structive order  of  that  in  Russia,  nor  of  the  wild 
varieties  found  in  America;  nor  has  it  even  the 
order  of  the  Socialism  of  England.  Twenty 
years  ago  the  Socialism  of  Germany  might  be 
recorded  as  against  the  invasion  of  Belgium, 
and  the  bonds  of  Socialism  existing  between  Bel- 


GERMAN   UNITY  143 

gium,  France,  and  Germany  might  have  inter- 
fered with  the  war  programme. 

But  Socialism  in  Germany  has  passed  the  stage 
of  labor-agitation.  Indeed,  it  has  been  trans- 
formed in  the  reign  of  the  present  Kaiser  from 
agitation  against  capitalism  within  the  empire 
to  agitation  for  the  expansion  of  Germany  in  the 
territory  of  its  neighbors  throughout  the  world, 
that  German  labor  may,  through  German  arms, 
enter  into  and  possess  the  land  without.  Ger- 
man Socialism  is  thus  allied  with  German  mili- 
tarism, and  it  has  also  become  the  respectable 
party  of  opposition  in  the  Reichstag.  The  mid- 
dle classes  of  Germany  of  late  years  have  voted 
for  Socialistic  candidates  whenever  they  dis- 
agreed with  the  government.  It  is  the  party  of 
protest  and  of  opposition.  It  is  a  party  of  the 
empire,  not  of  any  world  socialistic  movement. 

Germany  is  thoroughly  knit  together  in  sup- 
port of  its  government  and  its  Kaiser.  The  Ger- 
man people  do  not  seek  a  constitutional  govern- 
ment like  England,  or  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment like  France  or  the  United  States.  They 
believe  their  situation  and  safety  in  the  middle 
of  Europe  call  for  a  more  autocratic  form  of  gov- 
ernment, and  one  not  too  quickly  responsive 
to  popular  sentiment. 


144  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Germany  was  made  by  Bismarck  and  the 
armies  of  Von  Moltke  supporting  the  Hohenzol- 
lern  dynasty.  This  made  Prussia  the  center  of 
Germany  industrially,  financially,  and  as  a  mili- 
tary power,  and  at  the  heart  and  seat  of  power, 
in  both  industry  and  finance,  sits  the  same  dy- 
nasty. The  Emperor  is  the  center  of  industry, 
finance,  and  military  power,  —  three  degrees  of 
empire,  each  distinct  in  itself,  but  each  inter- 
twined with  the  others,  but  so  intertwined  that 
the  word  of  power,  command  and  influence 
comes  do^Ti  from  the  military  seat  of  power 
through  finance  and  into  industry.  Industry 
does  not  speak  back  through  the  powers  of 
finance  to  the  military  center.  The  flow  of  the 
German  dispensation  of  power  or  of  govern- 
mental organization  runs  downward  from  the 
Kaiser.  No  power  goes  up  from  the  people 
or  industry  or  finance  to  the  war  lord  at  the 
center. 

The  Germans  know  no  other  system  of  govern- 
ment. Outside  of  Prussia,  in  the  more  than  thirty 
states  of  Germany,  there  was  the  local  reign. 
Now  over  all  is  the  reign  of  the  Kaiser.  The 
present  generation  has  seen  a  united  Germany 
become  great  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  English-speaking  people  cannot  appreciate 


A  VOICE   FROM  THE   PEOPLE       145 

the  feudalism  and  the  fealty  of  the  German 
people  to  their  war  lord.  They  say,  "Are  not  the 
German  people  great  thinkers;  do  they  not  know 
that  the  power  of  government  is  from  the  gov- 
erned?" It  is  inconceivable  to  them  that  the 
Germans  should  have  a  reverse  system. 

My  last  word  from  Germany  was  with  an 
American  lady  who  has  been  more  than  one  hun- 
dred days  nursing  the  wounded  from  the  battle- 
line,  and  she,  singular  as  it  may  appear,  assisted 
on  both  sides  of  that  battle-line.  She  assisted  to 
dress  the  wounds  of  French  soldiers  where  the 
lacerations  of  shrapnel  had  broken  one  entire 
side  of  a  human  system,  face,  eye,  ear,  jaw,  arm, 
leg;  yet  that  soldier  lived.  She  dressed  wounds 
where  more  than  twenty  bullets  pierced  a  single 
human  frame.  Yet  that  soldier  will  go  back  to 
the  front.  French  boys  in  their  'teens  had  died 
in  her  arms  at  the  hospital,  —  the  hospital  where 
thousands  of  wounded  pass  through  every 
month,  —  and  she  had  taken  back  to  the  parents 
in  Paris  the  dying  message.  She  had  been  in  the 
German  and  the  French  trenches  on  the  line  of 
battle.  She  had  crossed  the  lines  and  been  under 
arrest.  She  had  seen  the  horrible  picture  of 
freight-loads  of  German  corpses  on  German  rail- 
roads, —  corpses  unhelmeted,  with  uncovered 


146  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

faces,  but  in  boots  and  uniform,  tied  like  cord- 
wood  in  bunches  of  three  and  standing  upright 
on  their  way  to  the  lime-kilns.  She  had  nursed 
the  wounded  German  soldier  in  his  delirium, 
crying  in  German,  which  she  well  understood, 
over  the  horrors  which  still  pursued  him  as  he 
remembered  the  face  of  the  wife  and  saw  the 
agony  of  the  children  as  he  stood  in  line  and  by 
direction  of  his  superior  officer  shot  the  husband 
dead.  He  moaned  in  his  delirium  over  the  pic- 
ture. The  faces  of  the  wife  and  children  haunted 
him,  but  he  cried  out  that  his  superior  officer 
had  ordered  him  to  do  it;  and  she  said,  "No, 
these  people  are  not  responsible;  the  dogs  of  war 
have  driven  them  as  sheep  into  the  slaughter- 
pens.  They  are  beaten,  but  fight  for  the  Father- 
land.  It  is  their  duty  and  they  obey." 

And  how  has  it  all  come  about .^^  Simply  thus: 
The  Saxon  was  a  Saxon,  the  Bavarian  was  a 
Bavarian;  each  suddenly  found  himself  a  Ger- 
man and  part  of  a  world-power.  Bismarck  and 
Von  Moltke  had  a  poHcy  for  the  Hohenzollerns; 
it  was  a  united  Germany,  and  they  left  it  a  de- 
fensive Germany. 

There  was  not  in  the  brain  of  Bismarck  or  of 
Von  Moltke,  or  of  the  Emperor  under  whom  they 
prosecuted  the  wars  against  Austria,  Denmark, 


A  VOICE  FROM  THE  PEOPLE        147 

and  France,  any  idea  of  Germany  as  the  Con- 
queror of  the  world. 

"  Never  be  at  enmity  with  the  Russian  Bear," 
was  the  saying  at  the  time  of  Bismarck  and  be- 
fore. "  Always  contrive  that  yours  shall  be  a  de- 
fensive war;  let  the  other  party  attack,"  was  the 
declaration  of  Bismarck. 

The  policy  of  Bismarck  was:  "  If  you  have  an 
enemy,  make  friends  with  all  the  other  powers, 
so  that  your  enemy  be  isolated  diplomatically 
and  politically." 

The  present  Kaiser  has  reversed  every  one  of 
the  great  policies  of  Bismarck  and  of  his  ances- 
tors that  made  a  united  and  great  Germany. 

There  is  not  a  language  in  the  world  to-day  out- 
side the  Teutonic  that  speaks  the  praise  of i  Ger- 
many. Defensive  German  alliances  are  broken 
because  the  present  Kaiser  insisted  that  offen- 
sive and  defensive  are  one  and  the  same.  In 
offensive  action 'the  Triple  Alliance  breaks;  while 
the  Triple  Entente  becomes,  for  defense,  nine 
nations  instead  of  three. 

The  German  people  are  not  responsible  for  this 
situation.  Their  form  of  government  has  not 
yet  permitted  full,  free,  and  effective  expression 
of  opinion;  nor  does  the  German  seek  full  political 
expression.  He  loves  his  fireside  and  his  family, 


148  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

and  prefers  his  home  ease  and  philosophy.  He 
has  confidence  in  his  Kaiser  and  his  government; 
and  his  whole  training  for  a  generation  has  been 
to  make  him  an  obedient  part  of  a  military  power. 

It  is  gratifying  to  find  that  not  the  German 
people,  but  the  German  Kaiser,  is  responsible 
for  this  war;  and  it  is  also  gratifying  to  find  that 
there  are  doubts  as  to  his  full  mental  responsi- 
bility. 

I  have  had  closer  associations  with  the  Ger- 
man people  than  with  the  French,  and  have 
liked  them  better  as  a  people:  they  are  so  indus- 
trious, efficient,  and  ambitious  in  the  world's 
work.  I  know  the  German  country  better  than 
the  country  of  France  or  England.  I  think  I 
understand  something  of  the  over-self-sufficiency 
of  the  English,  and  I  have  no  prejudice  against 
the  Germans,  or  even  their  form  of  government, 
which  may  be  better  adapted  to  their  needs  than 
a  broader  democracy.  But  of  the  German  mod- 
ern war-philosophy  the  world  outside  can  hold 
but  one  opinion.  It  might  have  been  supported 
as  a  purely  tentative  or  speculative  philosophy, 
but  it  could  have  been  promoted  in  practice  only 
by  a  crazy  ruler.  I  was  not  therefore  surprised 
to  find  circulated  in  Paris  an  article  by  an  Ameri- 
can physician  which  I  had  permitted  to  be  pub- 


THE  GERMAN   WAR  LORD  149 

lished  in  America  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
showing  the  mental  weaknesses  and  hereditary 
taints  of  Germany's  w^ar  lord. 

I  recall  him  from  memory  of  bygone  years, 
and  as  I  saw  him  in  Berlin  when  his  grandfather 
was  still  on  the  throne  —  a  young  man  of  about 
twenty,  returning  from  the  races  and  dashing 
through  the  Tiergarten  holding  the  reins  of  six 
coal-black  horses. 

I  said  to  myself:  "That  young  man  will  cut  a 
dash  yet."  And  I  still  see,  in  higher  light  than 
before,  those  six  coal-black  horses  —  the  horses 
of  death. 

Recently  I  read  pages  of  his  writings,  speeches, 
and  declarations,  and  there  is  not  for  the  world 
an  uplifting  or  new  thought  within  them  all. 
What  appears  to  be  new  is  the  echo  of  an  age 
that  was  supposed  to  be  long  past  —  when 
might  was  rule  and  valor  was  religion. 

"  There  is  but  one  will,  and  that  is  mine,"  said 
the  Kaiser,  addressing  his  soldiers;  but  it  has 
been  the  keynote  to  his  diplomacy  wherever  it 
has  appeared,  either  in  pushing  a  commercial 
treaty  on  Russia  in  her  hour  of  distress,  forcing 
Italy  into  the  Triple  Alliance,  or  dictating  the 
terms  of  the  Austrian  ultimatum  to  Servia,  so 
that  it  would  be  impossible  of  fulfilment. 


150  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

\Miat  is  there  of  world-progress  in  the  declara- 
tion of  the  present  German  Emperor,  celebrat- 
ing the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  King- 
dom of  Prussia,  — 

"  In  this  world  nothing  must  be  settled  with- 
out the  intervention  of  Germany  and  of  the 
German  Emperor." 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  GERMAN   POSITION 

An  Aggressive  Germany  —  The  Logic  of  It  — The  War  Party 
Supreme  —  A  War  for  Business  —  What  Confronts  Germany 
—  Her  Finish. 

A  MIGHTY  nation  surrounded  and  besieged,  yet 
still  fighting  on  foreign  soil,  is  the  position  of 
Germany  to-day.  Her  triumph  would  mean,  not 
alone  a  European  conquest,  but  a  world-con- 
quest. Her  defeat  within  a  reasonable  time  does 
not  mean  her  destruction  or  dismemberment.  It 
means  only  the  destruction  of  Prussian  militar- 
ism and  that  theory  of  national  existence  into 
which  the  German  people  have  been  led  un- 
der the  present  emperor,  that  theory  which 
teaches :  — 

"  War  and  courage  have  done  more  great  things 
than   Charity." 

"  What  is   good?    All   that  increases  the  feel- 
ing of  power;  the  will  to  power." 

"The  weak  and  debauched  must  perish,  and 
should  be  helped  to  perish." 

This  is  the  philosophy,  the  teaching  and  the 


152  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

language  of  Nietzsche  and  on  it  Treitsclike  and 
Bernhardi  founded  their  war  propaganda. 

When  Emperor  William  II  ascended  the  throne 
and  became  the  "All  Highest  War  Lord,"  he 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  two  great  Ger- 
manys:  a  military  Germany  arising  from  the 
Prussian  conquest  of  France  in  1870,  by  which 
more  than  thirty  states  had  been  welded  into 
a  compact  unity  of  military  order,  commercial 
tariffs,  railroad  transportation,  and  national 
finance;  and  an  industrial  Germany  forging 
ahead  in  the  commercialism  of  the  earth  at  a 
pace  exceeded  by  no  other  nation. 

Bismarck  and  Von  Moltke  had  made  a  Ger- 
many for  defense.  The  railways  did  not  flow  to 
the  ocean  for  the  interchange  of  commerce. 
They  ran  primarily  east  and  west  to  the  Russian 
and  French  frontiers  for  military  reasons;  but 
never  for  attack,  always  for  defense.  It  was 
expected  that  France  would  revive  and  again 
seek  to  try  issues  with  Germany.  In  this  she 
might  possibly  be  assisted  by  Russia.  Hence  the 
German  plans  were  for  defense  against  these  two 
countries. 

As  Germany  developed  in  industry,  the  mili- 
tary caste  receded  relatively.  Bankers,  mer- 
chants, shippers,  and  traders  came  to  the  front. 


AN   AGGRESSIVE   GERMANY        153 

Railways  bent  the  traffic  of  the  country  to  the 
sea,  and  harbors  and  ports  of  commerce  grew 
with  rapid  strides. 

"What  a  wonderful  business  man  is  the  Ger- 
man Emperor!"  said  the  world.  "He  advertises 
Germany  all  over  the  earth  by  the  spiked  helmet 
and  the  rattle  of  his  sword,  but  never  war  seeks 
he."  The  world  must  now  revise  this  opinion. 

German  unity  gave  rise  to  German  efficiency 
and  German  thoroughness,  and  to  a  demand  for 
a  larger  German  unity.  The  whole  German- 
speaking  race  must  be  put  together  and  bound 
together.  Germany  must  expand  over  the  seas, 
in  colonial  empire,  and  by  tariffs  of  her  own  mak- 
ing. This  meant  that  the  Germans  must  have 
dominion  on  sea  as  well  as  land.  Alliances  must 
first  be  cemented  with  Austria  and  her  neighbor- 
ing states.  Italy  must  be  dragged  into  a  triple 
alliance;  and  the  small  Balkan  States  must  be 
tied  up  with  Austria,  that  through  an  alliance 
with  Turkey,  Germany  might  reach  not  only  the 
Mediterranean  but  the  waters  of  the  Pacific. 
This  must  happen  before  the  great  try-out  for 
the  mastery  of  the  seas. 

Now,  the  central  point  in  the  study  of  Ger- 
many under  the  present  Kaiser  is  the  naval  pro- 
gramme for  over-seas  conquest,  which  was  origi- 


154  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

nated  entirely  by  the  present  Kaiser.  It  was  he 
and  no  other  who  aimed  to  turn  defensive  Ger- 
many into  aggressive  Germany.  He  has  been  the 
author  from  the  beginning  of  the  entire  naval 
programme. 

Such  a  plan  must  take  cunning  and  strategy 
covering  years.  It  must  proclaim  peace  to  the 
world  but  rouse  all  the  fighting  blood  of  the 
German-speaking  race.  The  spirit  for  world- 
conquest  must  be  stimulated  in  all  literature  and 
art,  in  education,  and  commerce;  with  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  family.  The  danger  of  Germany 
must  be  pointed  out.  The  greatness  and  right- 
fulness of  her  ambitions  in  the  world  must  be 
brought  forward  and  educated  into  the  blood  of 
every  growing  German. 

While  to  the  outside  world  steadily  proclaim- 
ing peace,  the  Kaiser  was  as  steadily  inculcating 
war  and  the  principles  of  war  into  every  avenue 
of  German  thought  and  philosophy. 

The  Germans  are  nothing  if  not  logical  and 
scientific.  They  must  therefore  find  a  reason  in 
philosophy  and  in  the  facts  of  history  for  their 
national  programme.  Those  who  found  these  rea- 
sons and  logically  set  them  forth  were  hailed  as 
the  great  philosophers  and  educators  of  Ger- 
many. The  logic  was  simple.  It  was  that  all  his- 


THE  LOGIC   OF  IT  155 

tory  and  all  progress  had  been  made  by  war;  that 
peace-loving  races  decayed,  and  finally  per- 
ished, and  their  places  were  rightfully  taken  by 
the  younger,  braver,  sturdier,  and  hardier  fight- 
ing races. 

**Let  your  superiority  be  an  acceptance  of 
hardship."  "Die  at  the  right  time."  ''Be  hard." 
**What  is  happiness?  The  feeling  that  power 
increases,  that  resistance  is  being  overcome.*' 
Nietzsche  thus  talked  the  principles  of  this  phi- 
losophy; a  something  entirely  apart  from  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  an  abso- 
lutely philosophical,  modern  paganism;  a  wor- 
ship of  power,  the  assertions  of  one's  individual 
and  national  seK  —  ''The  Will  to  Power." 

Treitschke  taught  it  to  the  youth  of  Germany 
as  applied  to  war,  —  not  the  necessity  for  de- 
fense but  the  justice  and  the  righteousness  of 
aggressive  warfare.  The  Emperor  and  his  court 
hailed  these  teachings  with  great  acclaim.  Cham- 
berlain, an  Englishman,  printed  a  book  to  show 
that  all  good  things  were  German;  that  the 
great  Italian  art- workers  were  German;  that 
Christ  himself  was  of  German  origin. 

The  teachings  of  Christ  were  repudiated  by 
Germany,  but  His  greatness  in  world  leadership 
must  be  claimed  for  Germany.   Had  not  all  the 


156  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

poets  given  Him  the  German  countenance  and 
complexion,  even  light  hair  and  blue  ej'es?  The 
German  Emperor  bought  a  hundred  thousand 
presentation  copies  of  this  book. 

If  you  think  the  picture  is  over-drawn,  get 
a  copy  of  Chamberlain's  ''Foundations  of  the 
Nineteenth-Century  Civilization." 

There  are  those  who  acclaim  that  all  these 
teachings  were  never  meant  for  war;  that  the 
Germans,  outside  of  Prussia,  being  a  phlegmatic, 
home-loving,  non-military  people,  needed  to 
have  their  patriotism  stimulated  with  *'war 
talk"  and  national  ambitions. 

Now  there  are  those  who  see  that  it  was  all 
part  of  a  cunning  propaganda  for  a  world-con- 
quest; that  Germany  was  cultivated  industri- 
ally and  financially  to  give  base  for  military 
operations. 

But  most  carefully  have  the  business  men  of 
Germany  been  excluded  from  the  war  councils. 
I  asked  one  of  the  best-informed  men  in  the  dip- 
lomatic circles  of  Europe,  whose  business  all  his 
life  has  been  to  travel  from  country  to  country 
studying  the  languages,  thought,  and  customs 
of  all  people,  west  of  Asia  and  north  of  Africa: 
*'Are  the  German  bankers  and  business  men 
to  have  no  say  in  Berlin  as  to  peace  and  war  or 


A  WAR  FOR  BUSINESS  157 

the  military  policy  of  the  empire?  "  His  response 
was  emphatic:  '*Not  one  word;  they  would  no 
more  be  allowed  expression  of  opinion  in  the 
inner  councils  of  military  Germany  than  would 
a  rank  foreigner  from  the  farthest  part  of  the 
earth.  Still  in  Germany  is  the  business  of  trade 
apart  from  the  business  of  government." 

The  world  may  now  see  that  the  business  of 
Germany  was  war  from  the  beginning  under 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  II,  and  that  Germany  was  to  be 
made  great  on  land  and  sea  by  the  sword  of  war 
hacking  the  way  for  German  commerce,  Ger- 
man tariffs,  and  German  commercialism.    The 
old  feudal  idea  of  trade  expanded  and  supported 
by  a  war  lord  has  been  the  idea  of  Germany 
since  the  pilot,  Bismarck,  was  dropped  by  the 
young  Emperor  from  the  ship  of  state.  War  for 
aggression,  war  for  business,  war  for  German 
expansion,  has  been  the  scheme.    That  these 
plans  were  interrupted  and  the  war  precipitated 
sooner  than  expected  was  most  fortunate  for 
American  civilization  and  all  civilization,  west 
of  Germany. 

It  was  the  Kaiser  who  changed  the  terms  of 
Austria's  ultimatum  to  Servia,  making  them 
impossible  of  fulfillment,  and  then  cunningly 
slipped  away  on  a  water-trip  with  the  fastest 


158  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

German  cruiser  behind  him,  that  he  might  come 
rushing  back  and  cry,  *' Peace,  peace!"  while 
he  fenced  off  every  peace  proposal  from  effec- 
tively reaching  Austria.  Servia  was  willing  to 
agree  to  every  demand  of  Austria  except  that 
which  involved  a  change  in  her  constitutional 
government,  with  which  she  could  not  comply 
in  the  allotted  time;  but  even  this  she  was  willing 
to  discuss.  The  Kaiser  gave  Russia  twelve  hours 
to  demobilize,  and  then  declared  war  on  her  five 
days  before  Russia  even  withdrew  her  minister 
from  Vienna. 

\Miile  the  Germans  have  gone  to  war  to  pos- 
sess the  land  and  dominate  the  business  of  their 
neighbors,  they  have  not  gone  to  war  as  savage 
tribes,  seeking  blood  and  human  sacrifice  as  an 
end  in  itself. 

I  have  not  dealt  with  German  atrocities  in 
Belgium  or  France.  War  is  atrocious,  and  you 
cannot  move  millions  of  men  to  the  slaughter 
of  their  fellow  men  without  revealing  a  certain 
percentage  of  crimes  kindred  to  murder. 

In  due  time,  all  the  atrocities  of  this  war  may 
be  shown  up  in  photographs  which  have  been 
taken.  The  Carnegie  Peace  Foundation  is  cir- 
culating photographs  showing  the  atrocities  in 
the  Bulgarian  wars.    It  might  be  much  more 


WHAT  CONFRONTS  GERMANY      159 

timely  for  them  to  circulate  photographs  show- 
ing the  horrors  and  atrocities  of  human  sacrifice 
in  this  most  audacious  war. 

Previous  chapters  have  shown  how  German 
diplomacy  slipped,  how  the  German  secret  serv- 
ice had  gathered  the  facts  of  the  military,  finan- 
cial, and  political  weaknesses  of  Russia,  Great 
Britain,  and  France,  yet  with  no  ability  to  value 
properly  the  spirit  of  the  peoples  behind  this 
military  unpreparedness.  Germany  has  been 
described  as  "System  without  Soul."  It  re- 
mains only  to  show  the  relative  weaknesses 
of  Germany,  and  why  she  cannot  win  this 
war. 

The  Allies  can  reach  round  the  world  for  men, 
war-supplies,  and  financial  assistance.  Germany 
can  get  no  more  men,  no  more  gold,  no  more  out- 
side war-supplies.  She  must  manufacture  and 
be  seK-sustaining. 

In  the  first  six  months  of  the  war  Germany 
has  raised  a  loan  of  4,400,000,000  marks,  or 
about  1,100,000,000  dollars,  promptly  and  pa- 
triotically taken  by  her  people. 

But  international  bankers  inform  me  that 
every  dollar  of  this  and  fifty  percent  more  was 
gone  before  January  1,  1915.  This  is  also  indi- 
cated by  the  expansion  of  her  paper  money  and 


160  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

her  efforts  to  maintain  the  gold  basis  under  that 
paper. 

As  this  is  regarded  as  a  Hf  e-and-death  struggle 
for  Germany,  the  jewelry  in  the  Empire  must  go 
into  the  melting-pot. 

I  can  well  credit  the  reports  of  copper  house- 
hold utensils  and  building  materials  going  into 
the  melting-pot  for  the  copper  of  war. 

And  of  rubber,  for  which  there  is  no  substi- 
tute, I  hear  that  above  three  dollars  a  pound  is 
being  bid  in  Germany,  or  about  four  times  the 
price  in  the  United  States. 

Still,  the  scarcity  of  gold,  copper,  gasolene, 
or  rubber,  or  all  combined,  might  not  force  Ger- 
many to  sue  for  peace. 

^Miat  I  give  a  final  verdict  on  is  the  tremen- 
dous human  sacrifice  that  is  exhausting  both  Aus- 
tria and  Germany.  I  do  say  from  good  sources 
that  in  the  first  twenty  weeks  of  the  war  the 
German  casualties  —  wounded,  prisoners,  miss- 
ing, and  killed  —  were  above  1,700,000,  while 
Austrian  casualties  are  now  approaching  a 
million  and  a  half. 

In  the  first  six  months  of  the  year  Germany 
and  Austria  will  have  suffered  not  less  than  three 
million  casualties.  Of  course,  more  than  half 
these  people  are  wounded,  who  may  go  back  to 


HER  FINISH  161 

the  firing  line.  But  the  three  hundred  thousand 
and  more  dead  will  never  go  back;  and  many 
vitally  wounded  and  many  cripples  will  be  here- 
after useless  in  peace  or  war;  and  the  prisoners 
that  are  exchanged  with  France  through  Geneva 
are  under  pledge  and  mutual  government  agree- 
ment not  to  take  up  arms  again. 

I  have  aho  more  confidence  in  the  Russian 
position,  numbers,  supphes,  and  strategy  than  is 
generally  possessed  in  America. 

We  hear  in  the  press  reports  of  generals  at  the 
head  of  the  armies  in  Russia  and  France.  We 
do  not  hear  of  the  wonderful  younger  generals 
that  war  is  developing,  and  who  are  coming  for- 
ward more  rapidly  there  than  from  any  similar 
developments  under  the  bureaucracy  of  Ger- 
many. 

The  two  greatest  military  strategists  the  war 
has  developed  are  not  in  Germany  or  England. 
They  are  in  Russia  and  France,  and  their  names 
have  not  yet  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  the  press 
reports. 

However  long  Germany  may  fight  on,  offen- 
sively or  defensively,  her  retreat  must  begin  this 
year.  Then  the  world  will  be  increasingly  inter- 
ested in  the  terms  of  peace. 

BaKour,   the   English   statesman,    says   pri- 


162  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

vately,  "  I  know  the  people  look  for  the  dismem- 
berment of  Germany,  and  some  look  for  her 
destruction,  but  this  is  not  the  intelligent  opin- 
ion or  intelligent  desire.  Germany  is  an  indis- 
pensable part  of  the  world's  industrial,  commer- 
cial, financial,  and  political  organization.  To 
destroy  Germany  would  be  a  world  loss."  The 
opinion  of  eminent  political  and  financial  people 
in  England  is  that  Germany  can  never  repair  the 
total  damage  she  may  inflict.  So  far  as  England 
is  concerned,  next  after  the  destruction  of  Ger- 
many's war-power,  giving  insurance  of  a  Euro- 
pean peace,  comes  first  the  indemnification  of 
every  financial  loss  that  Belgium  suffers.  This 
is  now  estimated  at  from  $1,500,000,000  to 
$2,500,000,000. 

What  there  will  be  left  over  in  the  way  of 
Germany's  ability  to  pay,  aside  from  the  Kiel 
Canal,  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  and  German  Poland, 
is  problematical. 

To  have  Germany  able  to  pay  even  a  part  of 
the  damage  she  is  inflicting  upon  the  world,  she 
must  be  put  back  upon  her  industrial  feet. 
Therefore,  I  have  declared,  when  asked  about 
this  matter,  that  in  the  end  England  would  be 
found  the  best  friend  of  Germany.  But  con- 
quered and  destroyed  must  be  the  Prussian  war- 


HER  FINISH  163 

machine  of  aggression,  or  crumbles  the  art  and 
industry  of  republican  France  and  the  democ- 
racy of  English  speech,  thought,  and  govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    LESSONS   FOR   AMERICA 

Wealth  is  National  Defense  —  Gold  Mobilization  —  Food  Sup- 
plies International  —  No  Financial  Independence  —  Tariffs  as 
War  Causes  —  Are  We  in  a  Fool's  Paradise  ? 

The  lessons  for  the  United  States  and  for  all 
America  from  this  war  are  so  many  that  it  is 
difficult  to  arrange  them  in  order. 

The  first  lesson  is  that  nations  can  be  no  longer 
isolated  units.  A  hundred  years  ago  the  United 
States  desired  to  be  free  from  Europe,  —  from 
its  political  system,  its  wage  system,  and  its  so- 
cial system.  To-day  the  United  States  cannot 
desire  to  be  freed  from  any  country  in  the  world. 
Its  Panama  Canal,  its  demand  for  a  mercantile 
marine,  for  countries  to  take  its  cotton  and  cot- 
ton goods,  and  its  inquiry  as  to  where  it  can  get 
potash  salts  and  chemical  dyes,  all  show  the 
interrelation  of  modern  business  which  has 
broken  all  national  boundaries. 

England  is  talking  to-day  of  a  closer  federa- 
tion in  her  empire  to  follow  this  war.  She  is  ask- 
ing why  she  alone  should  be  the  protector  of  the 
seas,  and  of  the  peace  of  Europe,  not  only  for 


THE  LESSONS   FOR   AMERICA       165 

herself  and  her  colonies,  but  for  the  whole  world. 
She  is  already  talking  of  a  federation  for  the 
empire  by  which  Australia,  Canada,  etc.,  will 
have  direct  representation  in  Parliament,  and 
assist  directly  in  bearing  the  burden  of  the  main- 
tenance of  peace.  I  doubt  if  a  British  federation 
will  strengthen  the  British  Empire.  Mutual  in- 
terest is  the  great  f  ederator.  The  unwritten  Con- 
stitution of  England  has  more  binding  force  than 
the  written  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
The  Triple  Entente  is  stronger  and  more  bind- 
ing than  the  Triple  Alliance. 

The  whole  world  is  interested  in  the  mainten- 
ance of  peace,  and  it  should  not  be  the  business 
of  any  one  nation  or  empire  to  maintain  the 
peace  of  the  world. 

Secondly,  if  the  burden  is  put  upon  England 
to  maintain  the  peace  of  the  seas  and  the  peace 
of  Europe,  she  must  have  a  growing  empire  to 
support  that  burden. 

Already  the  English  people  see  the  spread  of 
her  influence  which  is  to  follow  this  war  and 
make  Cecil  Rhodes's  dream  of  a  Cape  to  Cairo 
railroad  a  reality  for  Africa.  Egypt,  Palestine, 
and  Asia  Minor  are  hereafter  to  be  restored  in 
fertility  and  give  a  new  civilization  to  the  shores 
of  the  eastern  Mediterranean. 


166  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

Is  it  to  be  assumed  that  with  the  new  develop- 
ment for  Africa  and  Asia,  Europe  is  going  to 
abandon  her  interest  on  the  continents  of 
America? 

Will  not  the  very  force  of  these  developments 
make  a  foundation  for  European  developments 
in  North  and  South  America? 

Have  we  not  seen  that  the  British  Empire  has 
still  some  interest  in  the  Panama  canal?  Is  it  to 
be  supposed  that  when  peace  succeeds  in  Europe, 
and  the  European  nations  lie  down  together  for 
another  period  of  mutual  development,  France 
will  make  no  inquiry  concerning  her  $300,000,- 
000  of  property  in  Mexico?  Or  that  England  will 
adopt  Mr.  Bryan's  idea  that  any  Englishman  or 
American  who  goes  into  Mexico  cannot  look  for 
any  protection  from  his  home  government? 

I  believe  that  Lord  Cowdray  is  to-day  the 
foremost  business  man  in  England.  He  repre- 
sents oil  lands  in  Mexico  worth  intrinsically 
more  than  $100,000,000.  Is  it  the  policy  of  the 
British  government  to  say,  "Cowdray,  forget  it, 
and  come  over  and  develop  Mesopotamia;  living 
is  unsettled  in  Mexico,  and  Uncle  Sam  has  told 
'em  to  fight  it  out"  ? 

A  third  lesson  the  United  States  will  receive 
from  this  war  is  the  value  of  large  units  in  busi- 


WEALTH    IS   NATIONAL   DEFENSE     167 

ness  and  the  value  of  national  wealth  as  national 
defense. 

Instead  of  trying  to  pull  down  wealth  and 
individual  accretions  of  wealth,  the  country  will 
recognize  that  all  savings  and  every  increment 
of  fortune,  small  or  large,  are  for  the  ultimate 
benefit  and  for  the  prosperity  and  defense  of  the 
whole  country. 

In  this  war  Russia  is  poor  in  railroads,  and  the 
advantage  that  Germany  has  held  over  her  in 
Poland  is  more  by  reason  of  the  German  railways 
than  the  German  armies.  Railways  are  products 
of  wealth  and  individual  capital,  and  the  sooner 
the  United  States  learns  this  lesson,  the  better. 

A  fourth  lesson  for  the  United  States  from  this 
war  is  the  value  of  gold  in  bank  reserves,  and  the 
value  of  ability  to  mobilize  quickly  such  re- 
serves. No  nation  in  the  world  to-day  is  more 
closely  tied  to  every  other  nation  than  by  the 
invisible  strings  of  gold.  Every  nation  in  the 
world  has  an  interest  in  the  gold  supply  and  the 
gold  reserve  in  bank  throughout  the  world. 

There  are  those  in  England  who  still  believe 
that  this  war  will  be  the  supreme  test  of  the  gold 
monometallic  base  for  money  and  banking. 
There  is  no  thought  as  yet  that  Germany,  if 
driven  off  the  gold  base,  will  seek  a  silver  base. 


168  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

It  has  always  been  declared  by  the  bimetallists 
that  the  successor  of  gold  monometallism  will  be 
paper,  and  Germany  is  expected  to  go  upon  a 
paper  rather  than  a  silver  basis. 

In  exchange  operations  German  paper  is  about 
8  per  cent  discount,  but  exporting  gold  or  buying 
or  selling  gold  at  a  premium  is  by  law  forbidden. 
All  are  penal  offenses. 

England  can  stand  upon  a  gold  basis  because 
she  commands  the  gold  promises  to  pay,  but  in 
war  time  she  can  threaten  the  stability  of  the 
monetary  systems  of  many  countries.  The 
United  States  saved  its  gold  base  by  closing  the 
Stock  Exchange,  but  the  South  American  coun- 
tries were  quickly  in  distress  for  gold. 

To  put  India  on  a  gold  basis  a  few  years  ago,  a 
tax  was  levied  on  Indian  silver  imports  with  the 
result  that  India  has  absorbed  $400,000,000  in 
gold  from  England  in  the  last  five  or  six  years, 
and  where  payments  to  India  were  formerly  one- 
quarter  gold  and  three-quarters  silver,  they  are 
now  one-quarter  silver  and  three-quarters  gold. 

All  these  matters  are  being  sharply  watched 
by  the  English  economists. 

A  fifth  lesson  we  may  draw  from  the  war  is 
the  necessity  for  a  larger  official  representation 
abroad.    It  was  fortunate  that  before  the  out- 


GOLD   MOBILIZATION  169 

break  of  the  war  the  American  embassy  in  Lon- 
don had  been  moved  to  larger  quarters  by  the 
gardens  west  of  Buckingham  Palace. 

The  strain  that  was  thrown  upon  that  em- 
bassy for  information,  passports,  transporta- 
tion, etc.,  was  something  terrific.  United  States 
statutes  allow  this  embassy  only  three  secreta- 
ries, but  it  had  to  use  eight,  and  the  work  con- 
tinued until  3  A.M.,  and  sometimes  5  a.m.  There 
was  only  one  relief  in  the  situation  and  that 
was  in  a  study  of  the  queer  characters  one  finds 
abroad,  insisting  that  they  are  representative 
Americans.  Some  of  the  people  demanding  free 
transportation  back  to  America  declared  their 
residence  to  be  in  Hoboken,  but  could  not  tell  if 
Hoboken  were  nearer  New  York  City  than  to 
San  Francisco.  It  was  a  great  temptation  for 
some  people  to  get  out  of  the  war  zone  and  into 
America  at  the  expense  of  Uncle  Sam.  The 
amount  of  business  transacted  by  this  embassy 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  cable  tolls 
alone  for  several  months  cost  more  than  the  for- 
mer total  expenses  of  the  embassy. 

Still  another  lesson  from  the  war  that  America 
must  learn  is  that  food  supplies  are  now  not  na- 
tional, but  international.  We  have  seen  the 
price  of  sugar  in  the  United  States  jumping  up 


170  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

and  down  in  a  commercial  battle  between  Eng- 
land and  Germany  almost  before  their  clash  at 
arms. 

Before  the  war,  80  per  cent  of  the  sugar  con- 
sumed in  England  was  produced  in  Germany. 
England,  under  her  free  trade  policy,  had  per- 
mitted German  beet  sugar  interests,  fattened 
upon  a  government  bounty,  to  destroy  the  refin- 
ery interests  in  the  south  of  England.  The 
Island  gained  by  the  trade  because  her  refiner- 
ies were  turned  into  sugar  canneries.  Jams  and 
marmalades  therefrom  expanded  her  foreign 
trade.  Germany,  however,  at  the  outbreak  of 
this  war,  proposed  to  cut  off,  or  tax  heavily, 
England's  sugar  supply.  Into  the  markets  of 
the  world  went  the  British  Treasury  and  in  a 
few  days  the  government  was  in  command  of  an 
eighteen  months'  supply  of  sugar  for  the  whole 
of  Great  Britain.  Down  went  the  price  of  sugar 
in  Germany,  and  now  the  government  is  taking 
measures  to  restore  prosperity  to  her  sugar  in- 
terests by  a  reduction  in  beet-sugar  plantings. 
The  English  government  is  selling  sugar  in  Eng- 
land at  a  loss,  as  a  war  measure,  and  will  not  per- 
mit sugar  purchases  in  any  country  where  Ger- 
many sells  her  sugar. 

Nothing  but  the  strain  of  war  could  have  in- 


FOOD   SUPPLIES   INTERNATIONAL     171 

duced  the  Bank  of  England  to  count  a  hundred 
million  dollars  in  gold  sent  from  New  York  into 
Canada  as  a  part  of  the  Bank's  metal  reserve. 

There  is  now  no  reason  why  this  relation  should 
not  continue.  Why  should  fifty  or  a  hundred  mil- 
lion in  gold  be  sent  across  the  ocean  in  the  spring, 
to  be  returned  in  the  fall.^  The  world  is  going 
to  be  still  more  a  unit  in  finance  hereafter.  It 
has  taken  a  generation  to  educate  the  world  to 
the  right  of  the  individual  in  the  common  fund  of 
money,  so  far  as  money  is  needed  to  effect  trans- 
fer of  credits.  This  is  the  keynote  in  our  Federal 
Reserve  act :  that  business  has  just  as  much  right 
to  regulation  promoting  safe  and  smooth  credits 
as  it  has  to  national  regulation  promoting  safe 
and  sound  transportation. 

Out  of  this  war  must  arise  better  interna- 
tional relations,  and  they  comprise  not  alone  the 
relations  of  peace,  but  closer  relations  to  inter- 
national transportation,  as  respects  both  ships, 
international  money,  and  international  credit. 

While  many  people  are  looking  for  financial 
independence  between  nations,  the  United 
States  taking  back  from  Europe  in  the  next  three 
years  the  larger  part  of  the  $6,000,000,000  of 
American  securities  owned  abroad,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  opposite  will  take  place:  a 


172  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

greater  interrelation,  not  only  in  credits  but  in 
investments. 

If  nations  are  to  be  more  closely  knit  together 
hereafter,  it  will  be  not  alone  in  alliances  of 
peace,  but  in  financial  alliances  in  security  own- 
ership. 

It  is  far  better  for  both  Europe  and  America 
that,  instead  of  Europe  selling  its  American 
securities,  America  should  buy  European  securi- 
ties —  first,  acceptances,  making  a  basis  for 
credits  and  international  purchases  in  connec- 
tion with  the  war;  and  later,  American  invest- 
ment in  the  funds  of  foreign  nations.  It  may  be 
that  before  this  war  is  over  many  European  na- 
tions will  have  to  appeal  to  America  with  their 
loans. 

If  France  could  see  her  way  clear  to  put  out  a 
long-term  loan  at  5  per  cent  instead  of  short- 
term  loans  at  this  rate,  there  should  be  a  good 
investment  field  for  it  in  America. 

Russia  is  an  unconquerable  country,  and  her 
securities  at  a  good  rate  should  be  attractive  for 
some  American  capital. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  3  per  cent  bonds 
of  Germany  should  not  soon  be  investigated  for 
investment  purposes  in  America.  The  German 
debt  is  very  small  and,  however  long  the  war 


TARIFFS  AS  WAR  CAUSES  173 

may  continue,  German  bonds  will  ultimately  be 
paid.  They  are  quoted  now  at  about  70,  and, 
with  the  discount  on  exchange,  they  may  be 
purchased  from  America  at  nearly  60,  or  to  get 
5  per  cent  on  the  investment,  to  say  nothing  of 
possible  appreciation  toward  par  in  the  future. 

One  may  well  believe  the  Germans  to  be 
misled  in  this  war,  and  yet  properly  await  op- 
portunity to  purchase  at  the  right  time  their 
outstanding  national  bonds  when  these  can  be 
purchased  so  much  more  advantageously  toward 
the  end  of  the  war  than  in  the  beginning  of  the 
era  of  peace,  which  must  in  time  follow.  Is  it  not 
just  as  neutral  to  purchase  German  bonds  from 
the  Germans  as  to  purchase  ships  or  our  own 
railroad  shares  from  Germany? 

A  great  and  primary  lesson  for  the  United 
States  is  in  a  thorough  understanding  that  this 
war  was  caused  by  tariffs.  The  United  States  is 
the  home  of  protective  tariffs.  The  sentiment 
under  a  protective  tariff  is  national  selfishness. 
England  has  bought  in  other  markets  wherever 
she  could  buy  cheapest,  and  has  kept  her  ports 
open  to  the  cheapest  markets.  This  may  be  her 
selfishness. 

It  may,  however,  remain  for  the  United  States, 
while  maintaining  a  protective  tariff,  to  look  to 


174  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

larger  international  relations  and  admit  recip- 
rocal trade-relations.  There  is  a  wide  field  for 
study  here  in  connection  with  this  war,  for  the 
same  spirit — the  wresting  of  commercial  advan- 
tages by  tariffs  without  regard  to  the  fellow 
nation  —  is  in  many  countries. 

We  aim  in  this  country  to  boycott  foreign 
manufactures  with  the  declaration  that  we 
should  give  all  the  advantages  to  labor  in  this 
country,  and  keep  our  money  at  home.  But 
what  do  we  think  when  we  find  that  Germany 
has  for  years  run  a  boycott  against  every 
American  enterprise.^ 

America's  great  International  Harvester  Com- 
pany, which  has  made  and  promoted  the  great 
agricultural  inventions  of  the  world;  the  Singer 
Sewing-Machine  Company,  that  spreads  its 
manufactures  over  the  earth,  and  brings  back 
the  returns  to  the  United  States;  all  American 
motor-car  companies,  all  American  tobacco  in- 
terests, and,  in  fact,  all  foreign  companies,  are 
boycotted,  or  barred,  or  worked  against,  through- 
out Germany.  Placards  in  shop  windows  say, 
*'  Don't  buy  foreign  goods.  Keep  the  money  in 
Germany!" 

The  horrors  of  backing  such  a  policy  by  a  war 
machine,  that  would  impose  German  goods  upon 


ARE   WE   IN   A   FOOL'S   PARADISE     175 

other  countries  and  keep  the  products  of  those 
countries  out  of  Germany,  is  something  to  con- 
template; but  the  deepest  lesson  from  it  is  in 
America,  which  has  the  tariffs  and  not  even  a 
defensive  war  machine. 

With  the  Monroe  Doctrine  so  interpreted  that 
no  European  government  can  enforce  security 
for  its  citizens  or  for  the  property  of  its  citizens 
in  Mexico,  and  with  a  protective  tariff  under 
which  we  can  invite  countries  to  send  us  goods 
for  a  series  of  years  and  then  suddenly  bar  them 
out,  the  United  States  may  be  dwelling  in  a 
fool's  paradise  from  the  political,  military,  and 
economic  points  of  view. 

A  united  Europe  cannot  be  expected  to  lay 
down  its  arms,  while  arms  are  international  ar- 
biters, until  there  is  a  better  understanding  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  European  relations  to 
Mexico. 

There  is  only  one  safety  for  America,  and  that 
is  the  rule  of  right  and  of  reason.  Tariffs  should 
be  neighborly;  life  and  property  made  secure 
wherever  the  United  States  extends  its  sphere  of 
influence;  and  arbitration  should  take  the  place 
of  all  wars. 

Indeed,  the  United  States,  from  every  stand- 
point, is  the  one  nation  in  the  world  to  be  the 


176  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

promoter  of  peace,  and  to  assist  in  its  enforce- 
ment. There  is  no  other  policy  for  us  from  the 
standpoint  of  both  national  righteousness  and 
national  safety. 

But  this  subject  is  so  large  that  I  must  present 
it  in  the  next  and  concluding  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

WHAT   PEACE   SHOULD  MEAN 

Not  When  but  How  —  The  Argument  for  War  —  Right  over 
Might  —  National  Hate  as  a  Political  Asset  —  The  Human 
Pathway  —  Peace  by  International  Police — The  Practical 
Way  —  Is  a  New  Age  Approaching? 

The  endeavor  in  these  pages  has  been  to  show 
from  close  personal  research  in  Europe  the  cause 
and  cost  of  this  war  —  cost  in  finance  and  hu- 
man lives,  —  and  also  the  lessons  that  America, 
and  particularly  the  United  States,  should  de- 
rive from  this  greatest  war. 

It  is  not  so  material  when  this  war  termi- 
nates, as  how  it  terminates.  Many  people,  and 
especially  those  sympathetic  with  Germany,  are 
looking  for  a  drawn  battle.  This  means  a  world- 
disaster,  and  no  world-progress. 

The  British  Empire  is  determined  that  this 
war  shall  mean  for  generations  a  lasting  peace 
by  the  destruction  of  the  German  war  machine. 
The  Germans  likewise  declare  that  what  they 
are  fighting  for  is  the  peace  of  Europe.  The  Ger- 
mans, high  and  low,  declare  that  this  peace  has 
been  disrupted  by  jealousy  of  German  culture. 


178  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

German  efficiency,  and  German  success.  It  is 
difficult  to  understand  the  German  logic,  for 
wars  do  not  lessen  jealousy,  envy,  or  race,  or 
national  hate.  They  only  increase  the  jealousy 
and  put  peace  further  away  than  before,  unless 
there  is  real  conquest,  division,  and  absorption. 

Bismarck  declared  in  1867  that  he  was  opposed 
to  any  war  upon  France,  and  that  if  the  military 
party  convinced  him  of  ability  to  crush  France 
and  occupy  Paris,  he  would  be  unalterably  op- 
posed to  the  attack.  For,  said  he,  one  war  with 
France  is  only  the  first  of  at  least  six,  and  were 
we  victorious  in  all  six,  it  would  only  mean  ruin 
for  Germany,  and  for  her  neighbor  and  best 
customer. 

"Do  you  think  a  poor,  bankrupt,  starving, 
ragged  neighbor  as  desirable  as  a  healthy,  sol- 
vent, fat,  well-clothed  one?"  demanded  Bis- 
marck. 

France  attacked  Germany  in  1870  and  found 
her  well-prepared  armies  impregnable.  Many 
believe  that  the  Allies  will  find  the  German 
trench-defences  now  impregnable.  I  do  not 
think  the  Allies  will  pay  the  price  in  human  sacri- 
fice to  invade  Germany  from  the  west.  The 
break-up  of  Germany  is  more  likely  to  come  from 
her  exhaustion  and  the  weakness  of  Austria, 


NOT   WHEN   BUT  HOW  179 

against  which  the  pressure  will  be  steadily  in- 
creased. But  what  follows  the  war  is  most  im- 
portant. If  the  victorious  or  defeated  nations 
are  to  go  on  arming,  they  will  go  on  warring  to 
the  extent  that  there  be  left  in  the  world  no  small 
nations  and  no  unfortified  area. 

If  Germany  is  to  grow  other  navies,  and  Eng- 
land is  still  to  build  two  for  one.  North  and  South 
America  must  in  time  have  navies,  the  support 
of  which  will  burden  the  western  hemisphere  and 
the  progress  of  humanity.  It  ought  to  be  clear 
that  this  audacious  war  can  mean  nothing  un- 
less it  means  tremendous  progress  toward  uni- 
versal peace;  unless  it  means  that  nations  are  to 
be  guided  by  the  same  principles,  practices,  and 
morality  that  should  guide  individuals. 

I  know  all  the  arguments  for  the  needfulness 
of  war,  and  there  is  not  one  of  them  that  will 
hold  water.  Wars  exist  for  the  same  reason  that 
they  formerly  existed  with  individuals,  or  be- 
tween cities,  or  states,  —  because  there  was 
no  organization  regulating  the  relations  be- 
tween individuals,  cities,  and  states.  Wars  exist 
between  nations  to-day  because  there  is  no  or- 
ganization regulating  international  relations. 

Out  of  this  war  and  its  alliances  must  ulti- 
mately come  such  a  regulating  of  international 


180  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

relations,  or  the  world  goes  back  toward  bank- 
ruptcy and  barbarism. 

It  is  declared  that  the  people  of  Europe  have 
wanted  this  war;  that  the  Germans  wanted  to 
expand  by  war;  that  the  French  have  wanted  to 
fight  for  Alsace-Lorraine;  that  the  Russians 
must  war  for  a  water  outlet;  that  the  English 
have  favored  war  for  a  readjustment  of  the 
European  balances  in  power.  There  are  many 
individuals  who  want  their  neighbors'  goods,  or 
redivision;  there  are  many  cities  jealous  of  their 
commercial  rivals;  there  are  many  states  jealous 
of  the  progress  of  others ;  but  all  these  no  longer 
think  of  war  as  a  method  of  readjustment,  or 
even  of  redress  of  grievances. 

Patriotism  and  nationality  should  no  more  be 
a  basis  of  war  than  civic  pride  or  family  pride. 

Perhaps  the  first  error  to  be  blotted  out  before 
a  universal  peace  is  that  which  arises  from  the 
German  teaching  that  the  state  is  a  distinct  en- 
tity or  individuality  apart  from  ourselves;  that 
a  state  has  no  moral  status,  no  moral  principles, 
and  can  do  no  wrong;  that  while  we  may  not 
steal  individually,  we  will  justify  ourselves  in 
stealing,  murdering,  and  plundering  collectively, 
in  the  name  of  the  state. 

When  once  this  error  is  clearly  seen  and  rooted 


RIGHT  OVER  MIGHT  '  181 

out,  we  shall  still  find  in  every  community  men 
who  believe  that  what  a  man  is  able  to  get  and 
hold  is  his  by  right  of  possession  and  power;  and 
we  shall  still  have  police  regulations,  depart- 
ments of  justice,  and  courts  of  law,  to  defend 
the  weak  against  injustice  from  the  strong. 

We  have  constitutions  in  civilized  communi- 
ties to  prevent  robbery  and  the  injustice  of  ma- 
jorities upon  minorities.  We  have  sheriffs, police, 
and  military  power  to  enforce  the  edict  of  right, 
when  once  the  highest  tribunal  has  made  the 
nearest  possible  human  approach  to  justice. 

A  distinguished  lawyer  once  said  to  me  that, 
to  him,  the  most  wonderful  thing  in  the  world 
was  an  edict  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States:  "A  few  words  scrawled  upon  a  scrap  of 
paper  and  approved  by  some  aged  individuals 
of  no  great  physical  vigor;  and,  behold,  it  is  in- 
stantly the  law  of  a  hundred  million  people!" 

And,  for  the  benefit  of  future  human  progress, 
the  argument  supporting  that  edict  is  later 
printed  with  it;  and  that  in  future  any  errors 
therein  may  be  corrected,  the  wisdom  of  the 
minority  or  dissenting  judges  is  as  carefully  pre- 
served and  bound  up  with  the  major  opinion 
and  edict,  that  all  public  sources  for  correction 
of  error  may  be  preserved  in  the  clear  amber 


182  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

of  legal  justice  in  truth  as  betwixt  man  and 

man. 

"  For  what  avail  the  plow  or  sail. 
Or  land  or  life,  if  freedom  fail?" 

And  freedom  fails  when  justice  falls  and  right 
of  might  succeeds. 

The  breaking  up  of  the  world's  physical  body, 
or  of  the  material  dwellings  and  possessions  of 
humanity,  may  be  necessary  f or  "  a  new  birth  of 
freedom";  for  the  incoming  of  the  larger  light; 
for  a  broader,  more  universal  brotherhood. 

Individual  robbery  or  wrong  may  beget  in- 
dividual hate,  but  law  in  social  organization  pre- 
vents its  full  expression.  The  extent  to  which 
individual  hate  may  be  expanded  indefinitely 
where  guns  take  the  place  of  law,  may  be  illus- 
trated by  some  communities  in  sparsely  settled 
mountainous  countries  in  our  Southern  states. 
Here  family  feuds  and  individual  murder  went 
on  through  generations,  until  nobody  could  tell 
how  or  why  they  ever  began. 

A  journalist  friend  just  arrived  from  Berlin  in 
this  month  of  February  tells  me  he  detects  a  gen- 
eral policy  in  Germany  to  direct  the  national 
spirit  solely  against  England,  possibly  with  a 
view  to  bringing  the  German  people  into  line  for 
proposals  of  peace  with  ev^erybody  else.    The 


NATIONAL  HATE  183 

sentiment  of  Germany  is  being  swung  to-day, 
just  as  it  has  been  from  the  beginning  under  the 
present  Kaiser,  against  England  as  the  real  and 
only  enemy  to  a  German  world-conquest. 

Punch  says  the  Germans  spell  "culture"  with 
a  K  because  England  has  command  of  all  the 
*'C's."  But  the  English-speaking  race  has  also 
command  of  the  biggest  letter  in  the  alphabet, 
and  can  say  damn  with  a  force  surpassing  ex- 
pression in  any  other  language.  The  most  popu- 
lar song  to-day  in  Germany  is  the  "Hymn  of 
Hate,"  by  Ernest  Lissauer,  whom,  it  is  reported, 
the  Kaiser  has  decorated  for  this  —  the  only 
real  German  literature  from  the  war.  It  is  a 
hymn  and  chant,  and  has  rhythm,  hiss,  and 
fight  in  it.     It  runs  to  the  sentiment,  — 

*'  French  and  Russian,  they  matter  not, 
A  blow  for  a  blow,  a  shot  for  a  shot,'* 

but  ends,  — 

"  We  love  as  one,  we  hate  as  one; 
We  have  one  foe,  and  one  alone  — 
ENGLAND!" 

And  when  that  last  line  and  that  last  word 
burst  from  thousands  of  German  throats,  as  in 
the  crowded  cafes  of  Berlin,  it  is  the  fullest  Ger- 
man damn  that  can  find  expression  in  German 
consonants.    I  believe  the  Prussians  of  Berlin 


184  THE   AUDACIOUS  WAR 

would  be  as  pleased  to  megaphone  that  line 
from  Calais  to  Dover  as  they  would  be  to  throw 
their  first  shell  across  the  English  Channel.  But 
if  enforced  international  law  did  not  permit 
them  to  strive  for  that  shot  as  the  expression  of 
their  passion,  they  would  soon  forget  their  hot 
hate  and  put  their  shoulder  again  beneath  the 
progress  of  the  world. 

Man  has  come  up  from  the  dug-out  or  the 
cave  where  in  primordial  condition  he  won  his 
food  by  his  own  hands  from  the  uncut  forests 
and  the  unf armed  waters.  As  family  policeman 
he  had  no  incentive  to  accumulations  of  food, 
clothing,  or  luxuries.  These  involved  added  po- 
lice responsibilities  and  enlarged  the  tempta- 
tions of  his  neighbors,  both  men  and  animals. 

Later,  his  family  becomes  a  tribe.  In  combi- 
nation the  duties  of  protection  for  the  common 
good  take  on  a  larger  view.  The  village,  the 
walled  city  and  the  armed  state  naturally  follow. 
Each  stage  of  communal  growth  reduces  the 
number  of  men  set  apart  for  defence  or  police 
duty.  There  is  a  corresponding  increase  in  the 
common  store  of  human  possessions  and  human 
happinesses. 

From  states  grow  nations,  then  empires,  until 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  people  is  engaged  in 


THE  HUMAN   PATHWAY  185 

any  way  in  aggressive  or  defensive  warfare,  or 
even  police  work  or  the  determination  or  enforce- 
ment of  laws  of  justice  as  between  individuals, 
cities,  states,  or  communities  of  any  sort. 

The  individual  club  at  the  mouth  of  the  cave 
protecting  the  family  has  become  for  England  a 
surrounding  line  of  steel  ships;  for  the  United 
States,  of  100,000,000  people,  a  mere  outline  of 
a  military  defensive  organization,  to  be  filled  in 
when  needed.  But  for  a  few  communities  in  the 
world  that  individual  club  has  become  a  national 
armory,  with  human  energies  perfecting  the 
most  destructive  machinery  of  warfare,  that 
aggression  may  be  carried  on  against  neighbors, 
and  territory  expanded  for  purposes  of  national 
government  and  the  increment  of  national 
wealth. 

The  twentieth  century  has  been  distinguished 
by  a  call  to  the  humanities;  a  summons  to  a 
larger  brotherhood.  This  has  been  the  meaning 
of  the  clashes  of  the  classes  within  all  growing 
nations  —  Germany,  Russia,  the  United  States. 
All  that  outcry  of  humanity  against  mere  com- 
mercialism, against  the  mere  financial  exploita- 
tion of  man  and  his  labor,  in  this  age  takes  on  a 
larger  meaning. 

In  great  wars  material  things  go  back;  but  the 


186  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

man  goes  to  the  front;  and  the  victorious  sur- 
vivors make  a  newer  and  broader  human  crea- 
tion —  a  new  world  with  a  new  spirit. 

The  world  has  been  seeking  a  solution  of  many 
social  problems.  They  instantly  disappear  as 
dissolved  in  the  hot  cauldron  of  war.  In  the 
settlement  of  peace  following,  they  are  found 
precipitated  in  the  fired  solution,  refined,  clari- 
fied,—**  settled." 

To-day  all  social  problems  are  merged  in  the 
greater  problem  of  national  existence.  Alliances 
and  a  larger  nationality  become  necessities. 
Man  comes  forth  in  a  larger  citizenship  —  a  citi- 
zen of  the  whole  world.  There  is,  there  can  be, 
no  other  solution,  no  other  universal  peace. 
From  this  war  must  follow  a  world  federation 
and  international  citizenship. 

The  first  recognition  of  the  brotherhood  of 
nations  may  arise  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
While  this  doctrine  primarily  is  one  for  our  na- 
tional defense,  it  should  properly  embrace  the 
defense  of  both  North  and  South  America,  any 
aggression  from  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  to  be 
unitedly  resented  on  this  side. 

The  increasing  responsibility  of  nations  for 
their  fellow  nations  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
case  of  Cuba.  The  United  States  heard  the  cry 


PEACE   BY   INTERNATIONAL   POLICE     187 

of  the  Cubans  under  Spanish  rule,  turned  out 
the  Spanish  rulers,  and  gave  Cuba  over  to  the 
Cubans.  In  the  same  spirit  the  United  States, 
finding  itself  in  possession  of  the  Philippines,  is 
now  attempting  to  develop  them  not  for  the 
United  States  but  for  the  Filipinos. 

Lastly,  we  have  the  example  of  President 
Wilson,  who  has  decreed  that  government  by 
assassination  in  the  countries  to  the  south  of  us 
must  cease,  and  that  the  United  States  will  not 
recognize  any  government  thus  set  up  in  Mexico. 

It  is,  however,  not  yet  incumbent  upon  any 
nation,  as  upon  individuals,  to  say  to  its  neigh- 
bor, "You  shall  not  arm;  you  shall  not  build  a 
war  machine  of  aggression;  your  offense  against 
one  is  an  offense  against  all;  your  military  in- 
vasion against  one  for  purposes  of  expansion  or 
self-aggrandizement  will  be  resented  by  all." 

Until  we  have  practical  application  of  a  world- 
wide police  in  maintenance  of  the  peace  of  na- 
tions, not  alone  by  international  agreement, 
which  can  be  broken,  but  by  agreement  and 
international  police  enforcement,  so  that  it  can- 
not be  broken,  there  can  be  no  universal  peace. 

We  are  now  approaching  that  time. 

There  is  no  more  reason  why  aggregations  of 
people  should  have  the  right  of  murder,  destruc- 


188  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

tion,  piracy,  and  pillage,  than  that  individuals 
should  have  such  right. 

This  is  just  a  simple,  practical  question  in 
human  advancement.  The  world  should  now  be 
big  enough  to  grasp  and  effectively  deal  with  it. 

The  true  meaning  of  this  war  is,  therefore, 
human  progress:  humanity  taking  on  larger 
responsibilities  —  the  whole  world  answering 
the  question,  **Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  with 
a  thunderous,  "Aye!  we  are  one  and  all  our 
brother's  keeper,  and  we  may  well  keep  the 
peace  of  the  world!" 

There  is  no  question,  national  or  international, 
no  question  of  the  individual  or  collection  of 
individuals,  which  cannot  be  settled  by  the  laws 
which  belong  in  the  human  heart.  Such  laws 
may  be  called  spiritual  or  natural,  divine  or 
human;  they  are  one  and  the  same. 

Moses  wrote  no  new  law  on  the  tables  of  stone 
on  Mount  Sinai.  The  laws  were  before  the  tables 
of  stone,  and  before  the  creation  of  the  mountain 
itself.   It  was  only  for  the  people  to  hear  and  to  do. 

It  is  the  same  to-day.  The  laws  of  brother- 
hood —  brotherhood  of  individuals,  brotherhood 
of  nations,  or  aggregations  of  individuals  —  are 
unchanged  and  unchangeable.  It  is  only  for  the 
world  to  hear  and  to  do. 


THE   PRACTICAL   WAY  189 

The  doctrine  that  war  is  a  biological  necessity 
must  go  by  the  board.  The  teaching  that  war  is 
needed  to  harden  men  and  nations  must  be 
placed  in  the  realm  of  pagan  fiction. 

If  war  is  a  necessity  for  man,  it  is  a  necessity 
for  woman.  If  it  is  good  for  men,  it  is  good  for 
children.  If  it  is  good  for  nations,  it  is  good  for 
states.  If  it  is  good  for  states,  it  is  certainly 
good  for  cities.  If  it  is  good  for  peoples,  it  is 
good  for  individuals. 

War  is  Hell,  and  from  Hell.  Hell  may  not  be 
abolished,  but  it  may  be  regulated. 

Wars  may  not  be  abolished  from  the  human 
heart,  but  they  may  be  restrained  from  breaking 
forth  to  the  destruction  of  the  innocent  and  the 
guiltless. 

There  is  only  one  practical  way  to  do  this,  and 
that  is  to  have  nations  under  restraint,  just  as 
nations  have  states  and  cities  under  restraint. 
Then  international  courts  of  justice  may  per- 
form the  same  work  national  courts  now  perform 
in  respect  to  differences  between  states. 

Man  has  come  up  from  the  individual,  or  dual, 
unit  through  family  and  tribal  relation,  the 
walled  city,  the  policed  state,  into  the  armed 
nation.  He  is  now  steadily  stepping  forth  into 
the  world  as  ruler  of  himself,  the  creator  of  his 


190  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

own  government,  the  heir  and  sovereign  of  the 
world.  He  can  step  into  the  kingdom  of  man- 
hood suffrage  or  government  only  so  far  as  the 
rights  of  his  fellow  men  are  recognized.  Evil 
holds  its  own  destruction,  and  nations  that  live 
by  the  sword  perish  by  the  sword. 

For  the  United  States  to  rush  into  the  mael- 
strom of  war,  with  organization  of  armies  and 
the  building  of  armaments,  is  to  invite  its  own 
destruction. 

For  just  one  hundred  years  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent  has  held  the  practical  example  of 
the  impotency  of  the  war-spirit  where  there  is 
no  war  machinery. 

By  the  Rush  memorandum  of  agreement  one 
hundred  years  ago  it  was  provided  that  there 
should  be  no  guns,  forts,  or  naval  ships  on  the 
greatest  national  boundary  line  of  the  world  — 
4000  miles  across  the  American  continent  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Canada.  Nowhere 
else  in  the  world  have  armed  men  attempted 
invasion,  and  yet  provoked  no  war,  no  reprisal. 
What  might  have  been  the  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Canada  when  the  "Fenians" 
armed  in  New  England  and  attempted  a  raid 
across  the  border,  if  there  had  been  armies  and 
fortifications  on  that  border? 


IS  A  NEW  AGE  APPROACHING     191 

How  securely  now  dwells  in  Canada  $100,- 
000,000  of  the  Bank  of  England  reserve  gold! 
When  German  representatives  in  the  United 
States  talk  of  Germany's  right  to  invade  Canada 
and  get  that  gold.  Uncle  Sam  only  smiles  and 
frowns.  And  the  smile  and  the  frown  are  poten- 
tial. That  boundary  has  been  consecrated  to 
peace;  and  what  would  be  thought  of  the  pro- 
posal, did  Germany  command  the  seas,  that 
Uncle  Sam  accept  some  money  or  promises  to 
pay  and  permit  the  German  armies  to  go 
through,  according  to  the  proposal  to  Belgium? 

In  an  age  which  has  abolished  human  slav- 
ery, broken  the  walls  of  China,  which  is  bringing 
the  yellow  races  into  the  labor  and  white  light 
of  civilization,  which  has  made  Germany  a  na- 
tion, and  spanned  a  continent  with  the  human 
voice  so  that  Boston  talks  with  San  Francisco, 
is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  it  can  bring  the 
boon  of  an  international  civilization,  abolishing 
national  wars.^ 

Indeed,  it  is  right  at  our  doors  if  the  United 
States  would  only  welcome  it  and  join  it,  instead 
of  preparing  to  invite  the  old-world  barbarism 
of  national  warfare  by  planning  military  de- 
fenses and  naval  fleets. 

Did  anybody  ever  hear  before  of  ten  nations. 


192  THE  AUDACIOUS  WAR 

and  nearly  a  billion  people,  at  war,  and  all  de- 
claring that  they  are  warring  for  purposes  of 
peace;  and  may  there  not  yet  be  that  universal 
peace  by  reason  of  this  war,  and  the  war's 
alliances  ? 

Suppose  that,  either  before  or  after  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  lay  down  their  arms,  universal 
disarmament  is  assented  to,  and  the  peace  of  the 
world  is  entrusted  to  an  international  tribunal, 
which  takes  such  part  of  the  armies  and  navies 
as  it  may  need  to  enforce  its  decrees,  the  balance 
so  far  as  not  needed  for  local  police  duty  to  be 
put  back  into  industry  or  laid  on  the  shelf,  and 
all  border  fortifications  ordered  dismantled  or 
turned  into  public  recreation  grounds  —  is  it 
too  much  to  expect  in  this  Age? 

What  would  be  simpler  than,  in  the  end,  to 
find  fortified  Heligoland,  not  back  in  the  hands 
of  England,  but  the  naval  base  of  a  Hague  Tri- 
bunal enforcing  international  peace? 


THE    END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .   S    .   A 


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